#Abstract Challenge 41

[steveyoungjokes]

Discworld Pushed Me Left

by Steven Young

Thanks to the marvelous editor, Lyta Gold.

[Originally published in Current Affairs, (before the purge)]

It took Hannah Arendt two books and 800 or so pages to describe the origins of totalitarianism and the banality of evil. Terry Pratchett did it in 326 words when describing the workplace culture of the religious torture chambers in his book Small Gods. Karl Marx spent many chapters in Capital describing how the rich fleece the poor; Pratchett boiled much of that down into the 169-word “‘Boots’ Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness” in Men At Arms. By using humor to poke fun at the world that he created, Terry Pratchett made many progressive and leftist ideas accessible, explainable, and shareable. And his Discworld series helped move my political outlook leftward in a way that not many other things could.

I grew up conservative in the way that many middle-class suburban religious white kids are conservative. (“We’re fine, right? Everyone else must be fine, then. If not, it’s their fault.”) My father was a career Army officer and my mother had been in the Army during Vietnam. As adults, they both joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). That’s why I served a mission for two years in Brazil (for my Church), and why I joined the Marine Corps, serving my country (I thought, lol) for 12 years. You would think that being a religious colonizer, and a veteran in the “War on Terror” would have cemented my conservativeness, but the most important thing I inherited from my parents is silliness. I am a very silly person, and am more strongly influenced by funny things (comedy, light-hearted fiction) than serious things (pundits, war). Conservative comedy, I realized as I matured, wasn’t particularly funny or clever, since it consisted mostly of racism and bullying. In watching, listening to, and reading comedians who critiqued society and its institutions, rather than just mocking people, I began to see the weak points in my inherited conservative views. Then I found the Discworld, and was changed forever.

Terry Pratchett’s 41-novel Discworld series describes a place of barbarian heroes and hapless academics, brave witches and cowardly Wizards, silly kings and evil fairy godmothers. There are magical flying dragons, and domesticated swamp dragons with a propensity for inadvertent self-immolation. You’ll also find plenty of politics, as well as war, inventions, grifting, intrigue, love, danger, and DEATH. (On the Disc, Death is no mere abstraction, but an anthropomorphic personification with a voice like “the lid of a sarcophagus slamming,” who is really quite likeable.) Perhaps more than anything else, the Discworld has humor. Every page is full of puns and other wordplay, clever rejoinders, and silly situations. Pratchett’s stories are often laugh-out-loud funny and at the same time incredibly insightful, often by using a silly situation to show the inherent silliness of many things in our world. 

In his book The Truth, about the invention of the newspaper, Pratchett writes that “People like to be told what they already know… They get uncomfortable when you tell them new things… They like to know that, say, a dog will bite a man. That is what dogs do. They don’t want to know that a man bites a dog, because the world is not supposed to happen like that. In short, what people think they want is news, but what they really crave is olds.” Pratchett often gets the reader to think about “the news” by referencing “the olds,” re-telling classic stories from a different perspective to challenge their established values. For example, in Witches Abroad (Discworld #12, Witches #3), the young witch Magrat Garlick is given a magic wand, and told that she is to act as fairy godmother for a young woman named Emberella, an obvious play on Cinderella (both in name and, as we find out, in the story). After many adventures on the way to find Emberella, Magrat discovers that there is another fairy godmother who is “helping” Emberella by trying to force her into marrying a handsome “Prince” (who had until very recently been a frog, and still thinks he is one). The book hinges on Magrat and her fellow witches competing with this other fairy godmother by trying to help Emberella figure out if marrying the handsome prince is what she really wants. The entire story, in fact, is premised on what happens when powerful people (in this case, powerful magic users) try to impose their idealistic stories onto the lives of others.

Pratchett’s 41 novels are dense with literary references, and are hilariously critical of just about anything one could be critical of. I do not have enough space to give the incredibly broad scope of the characters and places of the Discworld the discussion they deserve, so I will focus for now on the biggest city on the Disc: Ankh-Morpork. That’s right, “Ankh-Morpork! Pearl of cities! This is not a completely accurate description, of course—it was not round and shiny—but even its worst enemies would agree that if you had to liken Ankh-Morpork to anything, then it might as well be a piece of rubbish covered with the diseased secretions of a dying mollusc.” Ankh-Morpork can be likened to immediately-pre-industrialization New York City and London, and many of the problems in the stories arise from the growing industrialization of the Discworld—such as urban blight, policing, corruption, organized crime, innovation, monopolies, and lack of funding for public services. 

The government of Ankh-Morpork can be described as libertarian, more or less. The city of millions is ruled over by the Patrician, whose role is, as he understands it, to ensure that everything works. “Ankh-Morpork had dallied with many forms of government and had ended up with that form of democracy known as One Man, One Vote,” Pratchett writes in Mort. “The Patrician was the Man; he had the Vote.” The Patrician, Havelock Vetinari, doesn’t rule Ankh-Morpork with an iron fist: he just lets everyone go about their business, and then rigidly holds them accountable. That said, his real power comes from his ability to influence people by sheer foresight and incredibly detailed planning. In fact it was Vetinari himself who instituted a new type of “justice” system. He legalized the Guild of Thieves: 

“Crime was always with us, he reasoned, and therefore, if you were going to have crime, it at least should be organized crime...[I]n exchange for the winding down of the Watch, the [Thieves Guild] agreed, while trying to keep their faces straight, to keep crime levels to a level to be determined annually. That way, everyone could plan ahead… and part of the uncertainty had been removed from the chaos that is life.”

I can imagine certain libertarians trying to explain how paying a predetermined amount to the Thieves Guild in exchange for a receipt and future protection is different from paying taxes, but you and I both recognize that that argument would be nonsense. By taking the concept of “organized crime” literally, Pratchett exposes the baselessness of the libertarian idea that freedom can be found through just legalizing everything and resolving all conflicts through contracts. Arrangements like these don’t make people any safer, and no matter what, they still result in powerful entities charging citizens money for protection. 

The societies in Discworld are pre-industrial, as I said, with some later going through industrialization, and for that reason there is little governmental regulation of housing, industry, commerce, and the environment. The water in Ankh-Morpork is described as having a “thick texture,” “too stiff to drink, too runny to plough” and smelling like “several armies had used it first as a urinal and then as a sepulcher.” Any urban planner will tell you that environmental degradation, among other things, leads to urban blight: Ankh-Morpork is squalid and dangerous. As Pratchett writes in Pyramids, there “was not a lot that could be done to make Morpork a worse place. A direct hit by a meteorite would count as gentrification.” For all the danger and organized crime, “murder was in fact a fairly uncommon event in Ankh-Morpork, but there were a lot of suicides. Walking in the night-time alleyways of The Shades was suicide. Asking for a short in a dwarf bar was suicide. Saying 'Got rocks in your head?' to a troll was suicide. You could commit suicide very easily, if you weren't careful.” There’s a sly joke in here about crime statistics, and how technical terminology can be used and misused to tell a certain story. Relatedly, the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork doesn’t commit “murder”; instead they merely “inhume” their victims, but they keep detailed records of their work and come down very hard on unlicensed inhumations. The state of policing in the United States is so horrible that perhaps, if we had a strong Assassins Guild, it would be an improvement; sure, murder would be officially legal, but in the guild system it’s costly to hire an assassin and costly to be an unlicensed assassin, whereas in the United States the police often do the assassinating themselves. At least in Ankh-Morpork the Assassins Guild school provides one of the best and well-rounded educations on the Disc, with scholarships for need-based students. This is partly out of noblesse oblige, but mostly because the experienced assassins know how important it is to keep an eye on youngsters with an aptitude for the profession. (Yes, to some degree this sounds like the current school bully-to-cop pipeline, but at least Pratchett’s assassins are held accountable.)

Criminals in Ankh-Morpork are often just referred to as ‘entrepreneurs,’ and at the start of the Discworld series, the city doesn’t have much in the way of a law enforcement system. Due to Vetinari’s re-organization of the Guilds into self-enforcing crime causing and prevention, an official law enforcement body was seen as superfluous. For that reason, early in the Discworld series the Night Watch has only three very ineffective police officers. To leftists like me this may sound great, but  as discussed above, Ankh-Morpork’s methods of criminal self-enforcement coupled with unregulated markets makes for a pretty terrible place to live.  The three officers of the Night Watch—Captain Sam Vimes, Sergeant Fred Colon, and Corporal Nobby Nobbs—have three different takes on policing (all of which might be called a sort of “anti-policing.”) In Making Money, Pratchett writes that “Colon and Nobby had lived a long time in a dangerous occupation and they knew how not to be dead. To wit, by arriving when the bad guys had got away.” Sergeant Colon was the type of policeman who would say that “trying to keep down crime in Ankh-Morpork was like trying to keep down salt in the sea…” and would avoid having to interact with criminals by proactively guarding very notable city locations because “[o]ne day someone was bound to try to steal the Brass Bridge, and then they’d find Sergeant Colon right there waiting for them. In the meantime, it offered a quiet place out of the wind where he could have a relaxing smoke and probably not see anything that would upset him.” Corporal Nobbs, however, is the kind of person who joins armies to loot corpses. He’s often the main suspect in any unlicensed minor theft around town, stemming from his preferred method of police work (testing doorknobs to see if houses are locked, and going into the unlocked homes to make sure no thieves are there.) Slightly less risk-averse than Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs would never fight fair:

“Corporal Nobbs,” [Vimes] rasped, “why are you kicking people when they’re down?”

“Safest way, sir,” said Nobby.

When we meet Captain Vimes in Guards! Guards! (Discworld #8, City Watch #1), he’s a somewhat functional alcoholic who stumbles through the city avoiding crime as much as possible, and trying to keep Colon and Nobbs from getting into dangerous situations. Over the course of his arc, we learn that Vimes is driven to drink because of past trauma, plus the ongoing and somewhat banal trauma caused by the internal tension that he experiences as an ersatz peace officer who is constantly confronted with the fact that he is mostly powerless to protect those who need protecting and that most of the harm caused to the city and its inhabitants is technically “legal.” In short, to the extent that Vimes can be considered a “good cop,” it’s because he comes to the realization that the status quo of organized and legalized criminal syndicates fueled by unregulated libertarian capitalism doesn’t help people, and he pushes back somewhat significantly against that status quo. 

That being said, in later books the Night Watch is expanded (as one of the more prominent efforts in Ankh-Morpork to officially reflect the diverse social makeup of the city). It becomes the City Watch, and Vimes is promoted, becoming a part of the aristocracy. This is all a bit neat—it just so happens that Ankh-Morpork’s libertarian problems can be solved by more policing, and Vimes is rewarded for his efforts. However, despite Vimes’ increased station, and the increased power of the City Watch he commands, he remains mostly grounded and functions as a traitor to his new class. This is likely because of the lessons he learned during his years of living on the lower rungs of society, probably the most famous of which is:

Captain Samuel Vimes’ “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”

Though there are flaws to Vimes’ theory (mostly because there are many additional reasons why the rich are so much richer than the poor), his theory is very understandable, and can lead readers to ask deeper economic questions about labor, value, and planned obsolescence. It doesn’t seem like many leftist academics have incorporated Vimes’ Boots theory into their writings, but the internet is full of people who read the Boots theory and immediately find that it describes their lived experience. As many of us have seen, the internecine online leftist debate over “reading theory” vs. “not being a fucking nerd” often does not lead to much progress when it comes to spreading awareness of left ideas. It is my opinion that a very readable, understandable, and funny version of “theory,” like the one Pratchett wrote, allows for more people to understand—or become interested in or familiar with—leftist theories than would otherwise be the case. I know that during my post-Marine Corps life, Pratchett’s humor was integral for my discovery of progressive ideals.

There are subtler left touches in Pratchett’s work as well: while many stories do focus on high-level political actors or those on the front lines of conflict, his writing also considers the lives of ordinary working people. The personification of Death, rarely dealing with kings and potentates, spends time working as a farm hand, interacting with children (who, like magic users, can see him because they “can see what’s really there”), playing rock and roll, and trying to discover the meaning of life… and death. The witches, as powerful magic users, do interact with various political leaders, but it’s very clear that they gain their power and experience from helping farmers and shepherds deal with the everyday, practical issues that are part of life in a pre-industrial society. Another subseries focuses on the senior faculty of Unseen University—a bunch of old wizards with tenure—but every story illustrates the blinkered stupidity of these senior faculty members, and how useless they are without the help of their support staff. 

Though Pratchett often writes stories about the inherent goodness of most people, he is also interested in the ways in which anybody can become a collaborator with evil. Perhaps the best example of this comes in Small Gods, in which the country of Omnia launches a “Quisition” [inquisition] complete with torture pits. The cellar of the Quisition is not, at first glance, a wildly evil workplace: “There were no jolly little signs saying: You Don’t Have To Be Pitilessly Sadistic To Work Here But It Helps!!!” But take a look at their coffee breaks: “The inquisitors stopped work twice a day for coffee. Their mugs, which each man had brought from home, were grouped around the kettle on the hearth of the central furnace which incidentally heated the irons and knives.” This is such a small, perfect image of evil: the inquisitors heating their coffee and their torture tools on the same hearth. Pratchett further describes their environment:

“...there were the postcards on the wall. It was traditional that, when an inquisitor went on holiday, he'd send back a crudely coloured woodcut of the local view with some suitably jolly and risque message on the back. And there was the pinned-up tearful letter from Inquisitor First Class Ishmale "Pop" Quoom, thanking all the lads for collecting no fewer than seventy-eight obols for his retirement present and the lovely bunch of flowers for Mrs. Quoom, indicating that he'd always remember his days in No. 3 pit, and was looking forward to coming in and helping out any time they were short-handed.”

Pratchett could, of course, be describing any office break room. The casual and friendly quality stands in horrid contrast to the actual work of the inquisitors. On this point, Pratchett is unsparing:  “...there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.”

Reading this, as a former soldier in the U.S.’s imperial military, and as a member of a generally conservative religion with a strict hierarchy, this passage (and Small Gods in total) helped me recognize the part I had played in evil. I am still a member of my church, but do my best to push back against the banal and even friendly aspects that push people to accept evil results without question. Recently, I led the teenage boys in our local congregation in reading Small Gods together, with profound results: these fellows understood the underlying themes perfectly. It was very heartening to witness young people realize how humor can be a part of discussing serious topics, and how easily one can be co-opted to do harm by a seemingly inevitable and even friendly-seeming organization. It should be noted, that this experience did not (from what I could tell) cause these young men to question their faith, or to immediately start sinning (hormones will likely do most of that work), but it allowed them the space to question the parts of our organized religion that merit questioning. 

*

Teasing out all the thematic complexity of Pratchett would take an entire magazine by itself, but it’s worth looking at his approach to gender. There’s Monstrous Regiment, in which (spoiler) nearly every seemingly-male soldier in the army turns out to be a woman in disguise, and a very competent woman at that. (Incidentally, Pratchett does a surprisingly good job of describing the nitty-gritty specifics faced by a frontline soldier that are otherwise almost never mentioned in literature.) Other novels revolve around the experiences of Tiffany Aching, a young witch who must navigate adolescence, gender roles, feminism, rural life, and incursions by very nasty creatures; and she does it all while subverting traditional fantasy stories’ treatment of women and sexuality. 

Tiffany’s stories—and that of the other witches— are presented in sharp contrast to those of the wizards. These tenured academics live in a gender-segregated university that admits only men (with one eventual exception); they are celibate, and show no interest in the women who clean up after them. For example, in Unseen Academicals, the Archchancellor Ridcully realizes he “had never thought of the maids in the singular. They were all…servants. He was polite to them, and smiled when appropriate. He assumed they sometimes did other things than fetch and carry, and sometimes went off to get married and sometimes just...went off. Up until now though, he’d never really thought that they might think, let alone what they thought about.” Women’s labor may go unseen in the Unseen University, but the narrative ensures that you see it. Additionally, the absurdity of the university and the relative impotence of the wizards’ magic is constantly contrasted against the witch-style of magic that is largely about creating life and being useful. For example, while the witch Nanny Ogg is the matriarch of a large family, has had a host of husbands (which is not seen as particularly scandalous), loves singing dirty songs, and has published an adult-themed cookbook, the wizards of Unseen University have to keep the magical tome Ge Fordge’s Compenydym of Sex Majick “in a vat of ice in a room all by itself and there’s a strict rule that it can only be read by wizards who are over eighty and, if possible, dead.” There are multiple interactions between the wizards with their supposedly-high minded form of academic magic and the witches with their supposedly-homespun form of rural magic, which end up as pointed critiques both of gender and the hierarchical forms of educational systems. In most of the Discworld books, both wizards and witches believe that magic should be gendered; in Equal Rites (Discworld #3, Witches #1), the wizard Treatle states that “Witchcraft is Nature’s way of allowing women access to the magical fluxes, but you must remember that it is not high magic...High magic requires clarity of thought, you see, and women’s talents do not lie in that direction.” At the same time, Granny Weatherwax agrees, saying “if women were meant to be wizards, they’d be able to grow long white beards...wizardry is not the way to use magic, do you hear, it’s nothing but lights and fire and meddling with power.” 

That said, the witches do a much better job of questioning the existing hierarchy and challenging their social status than the wizards. In A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld #32, Tiffany Aching #2), Pratchett describes the nature of the witches’ non-hierarchy (while also illustrating the power of a determined individual) when he writes that “witches are equal. [They] don’t have things like head witches. That’s quite against the spirit of witchcraft...Besides, Mistress Weatherwax would never allow that sort of thing.” Though Granny Weatherwax is likely powerful enough to run roughshod over the Disc, she seems to be of the same mind as Tiffany Aching’s grandmother, who said “Them as can do has to do for them as can’t. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices,” a rather different ethic than that exhibited by the wizards, who gain rank by killing older wizards. In “‘Change the Story, Change the World’: Gendered Magic and Educational Ideology in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld” L. Kaitlin Williams points out that “the witches’ subversive educational ideology not only undermines the wizard’ repressive educational ideology, but also...takes on a threateningly rebellious quality capable of toppling the hegemonic and hierarchical structures of Discworld.”

This is well-illustrated in The Wee Free Men (Discworld #30, Tiffany Aching #1), where Tiffany Aching seeks out more formal witch training and is told to “go to a high place near here, climb to the top, open your eyes...and then open your eyes again,” the lesson being that witches learn from experiencing the world as it really is, rather than taking tests and attending lectures. This self-education, based in lived experience and self-knowledge, helps her defeat her enemy, the more logic and reason-based Queen of Fairyland who tries to tempt and trick her with realistic dreams. Tiffany’s less-than-formal education also makes her a natural ally of the mysterious and magical Nac Mac Feegle “pictsies” with their anti-authoritarian rallying cry (in a Scottish-ish accent) of “Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae Master! We willna be fooled again!” 

But the most subversive part of Discworld—or possibly the least, depending on your perspective—may be the Industrial Revolution Series, featuring the novels Moving Pictures, The Truth, Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam, which cover issues such as the free press, minority rights, support groups, industrialization, mechanization, government services, trains, recycling, and telecommunication. Three of the books center around Moist von Lipwig, a former conman who changes his stars (somewhat reluctantly) and helps found or resurrect some of Ankh-Morpork’s public institutions. In Going Postal, Lipwig is tasked with saving the city post office when Reacher Gilt (a brutal steampunk pirate who clearly inspired Jeffrey Bezos) tries to drive it into ruins (via murder and monopoly) in order to force everyone to use his new visual telegraph system. Moist manages to save the post office while working through civil rights issues and confronting the complexities of incorporating new technology and automation into a changing world. He also gives us a glimpse as to why he’s an ideal person to usher in a new style of banking when he stops to think about the concept of money: 

“Money is not even a thing, it is not even a process. It is a kind of a shared dream. We dream that a small disc of common metal is worth the price of a substantial meal. Once you wake up from that dream, you can swim in a sea of money.”

If this sounds a bit like the principles underlying Modern Monetary Theory, you’ll love the sequel Making Money, in which Moist is tasked with saving the city bank. Specifically, he is tasked with taking the bank over from the people who had previously been running it, and who, among other class warfare tactics, wouldn’t let poor people bank because they felt that “a brigand for a father was something to keep quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of.” In addition, they had come to understand that “the best way to make money out of poor people is by keeping them poor.” Moist saves the bank, and likely the city, when he comes to two important realizations. First, that many people of Ankh-Morpork do not trust the banks (likely because of the dismissive attitude bankers held [hold?] toward the poor), but they do believe in the overall progress of their city. Second, he notices that many people of Ankh-Morpork have begun using postage stamps (which Moist invented in Going Postal) as currency. Combining these two insights, he realizes that the city’s money does not need to be backed by gold, and begins making new money that is backed by the city itself (and further determined by the value of the bodies of the city’s inactive golem slaves/workers, which is just a whole other mess). If this doesn’t sound like an especially profound reform, you would be right. Ankh-Morpork remains a city with terrible living conditions, terrible water, and extreme inequality. Making Money is the only Discworld book with an economist in it, and it has predictable results. 

The neoliberal blindness at the end of Making Money is not the only flaw in Pratchett’s Discworld. Despite its breadth of subjects, it is very much a product of a Briton (Pratchett’s full name is actually Sir Terence David John Pratchett OBE), a fact which is reflected in the way that he writes about Fourecks, the Discworld stand-in for Australia, not being a finished continent. Pratchett often uses physical caricature to make great plays on words, and for the most part he makes jokes about everyone, but sometimes it can dip into the realm of body-shaming; for example, there’s quite a lot in Making Money about the villainess being fat and ugly.  Sometimes, Pratchett’s love stories can be a bit rote, as if it is the woman’s duty to let the man woo her, and although many of Pratchett’s women characters are quite empowered, this can sometimes take a form similar to the CIA’s new ad promoting case officers who refuse to “internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can, or should, be” while shaking hands with Gina Haspel. And because Pratchett’s books are humorous, they are sometimes seen as low brow or “light reading” that justifies “robbing readers of the true delights of ambitious fiction.” That may be true, but it should be noted that light or humorous reading can often be used to tell stories that don’t otherwise get told. That said, the effectiveness of Pratchett’s prose may be limited by the fact that oftentimes the people least likely to want to read a silly story are the people who most likely need to experience something from a different perspective.

Reading Pratchett is a delight, and not just because he uses minute details of the lived experiences of working people and incredible humor to turn accepted stories on their heads. Fun is important for its own sake. I’ve read most of the Discworld books several times and am constantly astounded that nearly every single page has jokes and puns on it. You’ll laugh, but you may also shed tears of melancholic camaraderie, as I did when reading Night Watch which features much of Vimes’ heartbreaking backstory. But don’t take my word for it; as Terry Pratchett’s Moist von Lipwig would say “I wouldn’t trust me if I was you. But I would if I was me.” 

#discworld #terry pratchett #comedy #silly

[paledoptera]

draw a moth every day challenge

was at a party today so i came home really really fucking late. gonna draw that other moth i posted about tomorrow tried a weird abstract style today but i don't really like how it looks. maybe one of you will appreciate it more!

(daily moth doodle 41/366)

#doodle #moth #lepidoptera #rosy maple #rosy maple moth #dryocampa rubicunda #saturniidae #illustration

[brisnev]

#41

@abstract-challenge “Liquid”

Original abstract photography by Brisnev

#photographers on tumblr #original photographers #abstract photography #Contemporary Photography #abstract-challenge #brisnev #photography #fine art photography

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 20, 2022

Implicit mechanisms of intention. Aflalo, T., Zhang, C., Revechkis, B., Rosario, E., Pouratian, N., & Andersen, R. A. (2022). Current Biology, 32(9), 2051-2060.e6.

Dynamic large-scale connectivity of intrinsic cortical oscillations supports adaptive listening in challenging conditions. Alavash, M., Tune, S., & Obleser, J. (2021). PLOS Biology, 19(10), e3001410.

Metaplastic Reinforcement of Long-Term Potentiation in Hippocampal Area CA2 by Cholinergic Receptor Activation. Benoy, A., Bin Ibrahim, M. Z., Behnisch, T., & Sajikumar, S. (2021). Journal of Neuroscience, 41(44), 9082–9098.

A dopamine gradient controls access to distributed working memory in the large-scale monkey cortex. Froudist-Walsh, S., Bliss, D. P., Ding, X., Rapan, L., Niu, M., Knoblauch, K., … Wang, X.-J. (2021). Neuron, 109(21), 3500-3520.e13.

Cocaine shifts dopamine D2 receptor sensitivity to gate conditioned behaviors. Gong, S., Fayette, N., Heinsbroek, J. A., & Ford, C. P. (2021). Neuron, 109(21), 3421-3435.e5.

Functional Interactions between Sensory and Memory Networks for Adaptive Behavior. Karlaftis, V. M., Giorgio, J., Zamboni, E., Frangou, P., Rideaux, R., Ziminski, J. J., & Kourtzi, Z. (2021). Cerebral Cortex, 31(12), 5319–5330.

Tracking calcium dynamics from individual neurons in behaving animals. Lagache, T., Hanson, A., Pérez-Ortega, J. E., Fairhall, A., & Yuste, R. (2021). PLOS Computational Biology, 17(10), e1009432.

Point-estimating observer models for latent cause detection. Lee, J. L., & Ma, W. J. (2021). PLOS Computational Biology, 17(10), e1009159.

Spatial modulation of hippocampal activity in freely moving macaques. Mao, D., Avila, E., Caziot, B., Laurens, J., Dickman, J. D., & Angelaki, D. E. (2021). Neuron, 109(21), 3521-3534.e6.

Multisensory Processing Can Compensate for Top-Down Attention Deficits in Schizophrenia. Moran, J. K., Keil, J., Masurovsky, A., Gutwinski, S., Montag, C., & Senkowski, D. (2021). Cerebral Cortex, 31(12), 5536–5548.

Reward impacts visual statistical learning. Park, S. H., Rogers, L. L., Johnson, M. R., & Vickery, T. J. (2021). Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 21(6), 1176–1195.

The human brain uses spatial schemas to represent segmented environments. Peer, M., & Epstein, R. A. (2021). Current Biology, 31(21), 4677-4688.e8.

The information theory of developmental pruning: Optimizing global network architectures using local synaptic rules. Scholl, C., Rule, M. E., & Hennig, M. H. (2021). PLOS Computational Biology, 17(10), e1009458.

Sequential sampling from memory underlies action selection during abstract decision-making. Shushruth, S., Zylberberg, A., & Shadlen, M. N. (2022). Current Biology, 32(9), 1949-1960.e5.

A Stable Population Code for Attention in Prefrontal Cortex Leads a Dynamic Attention Code in Visual Cortex. Snyder, A. C., Yu, B. M., & Smith, M. A. (2021). Journal of Neuroscience, 41(44), 9163–9176.

Dissociable Components of Information Encoding in Human Perception. Vidaurre, D., Cichy, R. M., & Woolrich, M. W. (2021). Cerebral Cortex, 31(12), 5664–5675.

A cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical channel underlying short-term memory. Wang, Y., Yin, X., Zhang, Z., Li, J., Zhao, W., & Guo, Z. V. (2021). Neuron, 109(21), 3486-3499.e7.

Complexity and diversity in sparse code priors improve receptive field characterization of Macaque V1 neurons. Wu, Z., Rockwell, H., Zhang, Y., Tang, S., & Lee, T. S. (2021). PLOS Computational Biology, 17(10), e1009528.

Pattern differentiation and tuning shift in human sensory cortex underlie long-term threat memory. You, Y., Novak, L. R., Clancy, K. J., & Li, W. (2022). Current Biology, 32(9), 2067-2075.e4.

Partially overlapping spatial environments trigger reinstatement in hippocampus and schema representations in prefrontal cortex. Zheng, L., Gao, Z., McAvan, A. S., Isham, E. A., & Ekstrom, A. D. (2021). Nature Communications, 12, 6231.

#science #Neuroscience #computational neuroscience #Brain science #research #cognition #cognitive science #neurons #neurobiology #neural networks #neural computation #psychophysics #scientific publications

[secretsdecoded]

Hello friends

SAVE these AMAZING codes for your family and friends.

1st choose 1 or 2 codes which inspires you the most.

It's a powerful sacred code. Chant it 45 times in a single go, do it twice or thrice a day, write once on your left hand or left leg or chant as much as you wish to daily

Archangel Michael.... Sacred Code 613. Protection, Courage, Strength, integrity, truth. Day Sunday.

08 11 215

Divine healing code for all planets to be favorable.

The Merlin the magician or wizard: 477965.

So you can connect me and attract your desires.Through it, the magician that lives in each one of you will awaken.

744

The Golden Angels: Sacred codes.

Babaji has said that these Angels solve extreme situations, heal the wounds that prevent the advent of prosperity, and grant protection against Black Magic.

27 41 300

for everything you ever wanted to come true,only if it is for the Highest Good.

71269

Ángel Abundia (Abundance) . Rescue the Souls from poverty. He gives us messages in dreams and takes care of what we have of value. I want to help you discover your hidden treasures, I want to help you so that prosperity and joy flow in your lives. When you feel that agonizing anguish caused by not having enough money, give me a call.

Turning time in money 414 81 88.

784 Self-Mastery.

28500

Angel Negani: It opens up immense possibilities to whoever calls it.Opens door to Abundance and prosperity.

Divine mother or maa,to get her blessings.

5

Angel wisdom.

7000000

SEVEN MILLION.

Sacred codes.

I am the fastest and safest way to get into 5th dimension,I am the light of justice and one who knows the secrets of God.

One who will receive me succeed in all his businesses and win over all his visible and invisible enemies.

01

White Owl. White Owl is a Power Animal. Use this number feel the tremendous protection of White Owl and its ability to override plans of third parties who want to hurt you in some way.

13 31 989

Dragon Attunement

Dragon Attunement gives an aura of authority, increases invulnerability, intuition and protection, gives high charisma and personal magnetism. Overcomes trickery, slander, black magic and any hidden plots. It also protects and advances career and financial status. Dragon Attunement also destroys negative entities. It protects from slander and theft and brings family harmony. Dragon Attunement brings promotions, advances career, and brings self-esteem and business success.

Divine Healing Codes

1814321 - Perfect health .

518 5213 - Healthy body forever.

BE-HORSESHOE-BE.

Keep going through life's challenges without letting them get you down. Be strong and steadfast no matter the external situation.

8 - 12 Hz

EIGHT TO TWELVE HERTZ.

Communicating, Concentration – poor, Creativity, Daydreaming, Emotion – pleasant, Insight – intuitive, Inspiration, Learning – accelerated, Learning - super ability, Mental co-ordination, Mental resourcefulness, Mental state - lucid (rational), Mood elevation, Motivation, Musing – abstracted, Relaxation – enhancement, Relaxation – light, Thinking – positive, Thinking - problem solving – creative, Unfocused.

Heal the relationship with the money at the subconscious level.

Sacred Code 4000000.

Angel of wealth....Sacred Code 88829. It is a entity that wants to help you to solve your financial problems. Their energy is very close to that of the Archangel Gabriel and Mother Mary.

199621147

Draw money like a magnet

Goodluck.

[sakuraiadam1704]

Week 4: Digital Community and Fandom

Sisters Who Make Waves: Decoding the Phenomenon

Few months ago, people in my country – Vietnam, has followed up a very famous show named “Chi Dep Dap Gio Re Song” which was taken from the copyright of another well-known show named “Sisters Who Make Waves” of China. Without any further ado, I would like to introduce to you my post for this week – Sisters Who Make Wave. Below are the 2 MVs for each contest I have been listed out.

Abstract: Sisters Who Make Waves (SWMW), a Chinese reality music show featuring a few female celebrities over 30 years old competing in a girl group debut, those girls may have different backgrounds such as singers, models, actresses, businesswomen, etc… has become a cultural phenomenon.

SWMW, during their launch in 2020, presents a unique twist on idol competition shows. It challenges ageism in the entertainment industry by empowering "thirty dark horses" to rediscover their potential (Sun, 2020). The show's format, blending competition with sisterhood narratives, resonates with audiences seeking diverse representation and positive ageing portrayals (He, 2022).

Public Sphere: SWMW transcends entertainment through its social commentary. It sparks conversations about gender roles, female empowerment, and defying stereotypes (Wang, 2021). The show's online presence fuels discussions on platforms like Weibo, reflecting its engagement with contemporary social issues (Zhang, 2022).

Audience: SWMW attracts a diverse audience. Existing fans of the participating celebrities tune in, but the show also cultivates a broader viewership interested in relatable stories and defying societal expectations (Xu, 2021). Younger demographics find inspiration in the contestants' journeys, while older viewers appreciate the celebration of mature femininity (Li, 2022).

Debate: SWMW isn't without controversy. Critics argue that the competition format undermines its empowering message and that the "girl group" concept reinforces unrealistic beauty standards (Chen, 2020). However, these debates highlight the show's ability to provoke discussions and challenge existing norms (Wu, 2021).

Winning Hearts: SWMW's success lies in its ability to connect with audiences emotionally. The contestants' vulnerability, determination, and supportive relationships resonate with viewers seeking authenticity and inspiration (Yang, 2022). The show's message of self-acceptance and defying limitations transcends cultural boundaries, creating a global fanbase (Liu, 2023).

REFERENCES:

Chen, M. (2020). Gender, performance, and reality TV: A critical analysis of Sisters Who Make Waves. Social Sciences in China, 41(4), 123–140.

He, Y. (2022). Ageing gracefully: Sisters Who Make Waves and the representation of mature women in Chinese reality TV. Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 16(2), 189–205.

Li, X. (2022). Beyond entertainment: Sisters Who Make Waves and the discourse of female empowerment in China. Intersections: Gender, History, and Culture in Asia, 9(2), 145–162.

Liu, J. (2023). From local to global: The transnational appeal of Sisters Who Make Waves. Journal of Global Media and Culture, 10(1), 34–52.

Sun, Y. (2020). Thirty dark horses, return to youth: An ethnographic study of audience reception of Sisters Who Make Waves. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(8), 942–955.

Wang, Y. (2021). Reality TV and social commentary: Sisters Who Make Waves and the discourse on gender in China. Television & New Media, 22(8), 754–775.

Wu, X. (2021). The debate over authenticity: Sisters Who Make Waves and the construction of reality in Chinese reality TV. Media, Culture & Society, 43(8), 1202–1220.

Xu, J. (2021). Fandom and reality TV: Exploring the audience of Sisters Who Make Waves. Popular Communication, 20(3), 254–270.

Yang, L. (2022). Emotional resonance and audience engagement: The case of Sisters Who Make Waves. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 66(3), 425–446.

Zhang, H. (2022). The power of Weibo: Online discussion and the public reception of Sisters Who Make Waves. Chinese Journal of Communication, 15(2), 193–212.

#mda20009 #SWMW #Youtube

[motionsofekstasis]

MOTION REEL | Elena Loras from Elena Saenz de la Torre on Vimeo.

A reel of my more recent animation, graphic design and illustration work. You can check out some more projects on my website: elenaloras.com/

I enjoy facing new challenges and teaming up with new people that are based anywhere in the world. So if you want to get in touch, don't be shy and drop me a line at [email protected]

Always open for new collaborations or just say hi :)

-- MUSIC: Mid-Air Machine - Sands of Windhoek

[00:00] Elena Loras Intro • Design & Animation [00:05] Embrace the failure • Design & Animation [00:06] Lil Baby 'The World Is Yours To Take' Official FIFA World Cup anthem • Design & Animation [00:13] Happy Shapes Happy Letters • Design & Animation [00:17] Becas Infantiles Campaign for the Madrid City Council • Animation [00:21] Becas Infantiles Campaign for the Madrid City Council • Animation [00:25] D-Space • Design & Animation [00:26] Lil Baby 'The World Is Yours To Take' Official FIFA World Cup anthem • Design & Animation [00:29] Happy Shapes Happy Letters • Design & Animation [00:30] NKD • Illustration & Animation [00:33] Videomapping • Design & Animation [00:34] Type Thursday Madrid • Animation [00:37] Animated Objects • Illustration & Animation [00:39] Abstract Shapes • Illustration & Animation [00:41] 4 Life • Illustration & Animation [00:42] Animated Objects • Illustration & Animation [00:45] Embrace the failure • Design & Animation [00:48] Louisville Cardinals Twitter Prompts • Design & Animation [00:52] Embrace the failure • Design & Animation [00:55] Specialized App • Animation [00:57] Type Thursday Madrid • Animation [00:58] Stay Sane Stay Safe Posters • Design & Animation [01:00] Type Thursday Madrid • Animation [01:03] Series of Typographic Posters • Design & Animation [01:05] Happy Shapes Happy Letters • Design & Animation [01:08] Elena Loras Outro • Design & Animation --

elenaloras.com/ instragram.com/elenaloras

Thanks for watching!

[evoldir]

Fwd: Conference: UFribourg.Polyploidy.Jul10-11

Begin forwarded message: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Conference: UFribourg.Polyploidy.Jul10-11 > Date: 9 February 2023 at 05:42:44 GMT > To: [email protected] > > > A symposium entitled "Genome duplication at the intersection of > biodiversity and crop sciences" will take place at the University of > Fribourg (Switzerland) from 10 to 11 July 2023. > > Most organisms have gone through polyploidy (i.e. genome duplication) > and this process is thus central to the origin and evolution of species, > including most current major crops. Invited lectures and contributed > talks will thus illustrate current approaches to tackle main challenges > inherent to research on polyploid organisms and advance our understanding > of biodiversity and crops in changing environments. More details available > at https://ift.tt/wBDPAa9 > > Invited speakers include Yves van de Peer (Ghent University, > Belgium) https://ift.tt/LOnhjR3 Kirsten Bomblies (ETH-Zurich, > Switzerland) https://ift.tt/RL03KrA > Boulos Chalhoub (Agroscope, Switzerland) > https://ift.tt/y7e5t4U > Christian Parisod (local organizer; University of Fribourg, Switzerland) > https://ift.tt/xZPw3fi > > You can submit your abstract for consideration > as a contributed talks until 16.04.2023 at: > https://ift.tt/H4PtegY > > This symposium, open to everyone, also represents the starting point of > a summer school entitled "Polyploid evolutionary genomics: challenges > and opportunities" that involves international lecturers and that > is open to selected participants. More information available at: > https://ift.tt/o5JiKkt > > Registration fees for the Symposium (CHF 100). Deadline for registration: > 16.04.2023 > Further details about the venue, program and registration can be found at: https://ift.tt/wBDPAa9 > > Prof. Christian Parisod > Department of Biology - University of Fribourg > Chemin du Mus�e 10 - 1700 Fribourg - Switzerland > Phone: [phone] > e-mail: [email protected] > https://ift.tt/wpZmiCW > > > PARISOD Christian

#IFTTT #Email

[xtruss]

Droning on … Red Bluff, Montana Photograph: Stephen Shore

Getting High: A Drone’s-Eye View of The United States – In Pictures

During the long periods of pandemic isolation, Stephen Shore rose to the challenge – and shot the arresting US landscape from way up above

Top: Meagher County, Montana, 46°11.409946N, 110°44.018901W! Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape presents the latest body of work from Stephen Shore: a series of photographs, shot by drone from 2020 onwards, which reveal in arresting detail the interplay of natural and man-made landscapes in Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina, New York and beyond. It was shot during Shore’s travels throughout the Covid pandemic. Topographies: Aerial Surveys of the American Landscape is published by MACK books Bottom: Madison County, Montana, 45°35.245111N, 111°34.650946W! These observations are records of specific locations at specific times as the works’ titles include GPS coordinates

Top: Wilsall, Montana, 45°59.717453N, 110°39.642398W! Shore uses an aerial viewpoint to offer a fresh perspective on the commonplace and the effects of human life on the American landscape Bottom: Port Ewen, New York, 41°54.4052N, 73°59.8853533W! As much as exploring the formal possibilities of the aerial photograph, Topographies displays a glorious dedication to detail and surprise in which the bend of a river or curve of a shadow reveals the textures and colours of these urban and suburban landscapes

Top: Three Forks, Montana, 45°56.977861N, 111°36.454105W! This high vantage point is exhilarating and revelatory. But once we’re up there, what is it exactly that we’re able to see? Bottom: Madison River, Red Bluff, Montana, 45°38.786N, 111°31.43025W! The presence of human beings can be inferred in the cars and trucks, but they remain largely unseen except in this image

Top: Livingston, Montana, 45°39.611201N, 110°33.555856W! ‘Pondering this image, I find myself wondering if the drone flew low enough to call attention to itself,’ says Shore. ‘Was the relatively sleepy silence of this rural enclave buzzed through by the drone’s telltale whirr? I would imagine that an intruder even vaguely unfamiliar – and even more so anything hinting at intrusion or surveillance – would be immediately identified and neutralised, violently and with neither forethought nor remorse. But maybe that’s just this city dweller’s lingering idea of the intimacy and paranoia of small towns’ Bottom: Meagher County, Montana, 46°21.458793N, 110°43.432813W! In an essay for the book entitled ‘Where Do I Belong Up Here’, Noah Chasin writes: ‘Today, we all drone. The elevated viewpoint that was once attainable only through privileged and/or military means is now as commonplace as staring at one’s shoes. We know our homes, neighbourhoods, cities and countries not just from the formerly provincial perspective of eyes trained straight ahead, but also from above’

Top: Red Bluff, Montana, 45°36.271771N, 111°34.450578W! Chasin: ‘Every technological device integrated into the 21st-century service economy – maps, rideshares, delivery services – is also a pairing of visual information with GPS data. We are always located and locatable’ Bottom: Livingston, Montana, 45°39.832311N, 110°32.775568W! In the essay ‘Skies of America’, Richard B Woodward writes: ‘Aerial photography upsets the typical relationship between seeing and being seen. Instead of our taking pictures of things in the sky, things in the sky take pictures of us’

Top: Feura Bush, New York, 42°34.3974617N, 73°52.1432W! Woodward: ‘An aerial perspective, however, also suggests semi-divine powers. Surveying the world from on high encourages us to comprehend it sub specie aeternitatis. Pull back too far from Earth and its precious imperfections are eliminated, including the actions of individuals. Abstraction can erode the need for empathy’ Bottom: Madison County, Montana, 45°36.400296N, 111°34.501908W! Woodward: ‘Shore and his drone have taken note of the resources found in an assortment of places as well as the barriers and partitions that for decades or centuries have aided, thwarted or guided settlements – rivers, mountains, deserts, fields, bridges, fences, railroad tracks, streets, roads and expressways. Without obviously seeking to, his photographs often reveal the interactions between these factors, ones that Earth-bound observers would find hard or impossible to discern’

Top: Hickory, North Carolina, 35°42.6957383N, 81°17.8916467W! Woordward: ‘Sometimes the emphasis is on natural forces: how seasonal rainfall, plant cover or wind and water erosion on underlying rock formations have shaped the outlines of hills and plains’ Bottom: Hudson, New York, 42°15.3776983N, 73°47.302215W, 92m! Woodward: ‘Reliable sources of water have in turn affected where grass is plentiful and thus in a rural setting, where it has been profitable to raise horses and cattle, grow crops, invest in a larger property or where it might be enjoyable to design a house or to park an RV trailer’

[crowholtz]

Silka -- 8, 10, 14, 39, 41

>:3

8. Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

I'M GONNA KILL YOU STOP ASKING QUESTIONS YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO IM sdklfghjsdg

Okay but. Silka was under the thrall of a sadistic vampire, C, for three years. One day, that vampire was being hunted by a vampire hunter by the name of Dr. Woodrow Engelmann. C sent Silka out ahead as he often did to take care of the problem for him. Silka began fighting Woody, proving to be quite a challenge for him. She was pretty formidable with her longbow and knives. So he used a scroll of Banishment on her to get rid of her, not wanting to try his all against someone obviously enthralled. Silka disappeared temporarily into the ethereal plane for one minute. Without Silka, Woody drew his attention back to C, and they started fighting.

A minute later, Silka returned, and the Banishment had completely broken her charm from C. She was disoriented, confused, and she had the instinct to help C still... but something told her to fight back instead.

C disarmed Woody, and was beginning to feed off of him, biting into his neck. Woody nodded to the gun, looking at Silka desperately. She'd never seen anything like it before. She picked it up, tentative. Woody yelled to her "Point it at him and pull that little trigger there!"

Silka aimed at Woody, aimed at C, back at Woody, then at C again, panicking. But she knew he did something bad to her. So she shot C. It took a CHUNK of damage out of him. Woody began to fight back against him again, and the two managed to scare C off, as he was outnumbered and did not want to die.

Silka then aimed it at Woody, trembling. Woody managed to calm her down, and told her she could keep the gun if that would make her more relaxed. She decided to stay with him.

10. Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

Less. Naked. SHE WANTS TO BE FREE. She has no problem with nudity.

14. Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Well her memory is awful, but, faces. Silka's a very visual-oriented person.

39. Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?

A werewolf named Emil offered to bite Silka as reward for helping him escape from the Castle Ravenloft dungeons. She said "sure why not!" and became a werecat. Good times!

41. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Silka doesn't really think about things in terms of "deserving". Silka wants to be happy, so she pursues her happiness. If she wants something nice, she'll try to get it. If a steak falls in her lap, she's gonna eat the fuck out of it. She doesn't really care about "earning" it.

#ch: silka #party: the marvelous pigments #cos blogging #curse of strahd

[jcrmhscasereports]

Trends in incidence of COVID 19 based on performed Rapid Antigen Test by Piratheepkumar. R in Journal of Clinical Case Reports Medical Images and Health Sciences

ABSTRACT

The COVID 19 outbreak represents a historically unprecedented pandemic, particularly dangerous and potentially lethal for elderly population. The biological differences in the immune systems between men and women exist which may impact our ability to fight an infection including SARS-2-CoV-2. Men tended to develop more symptomatic and serious disease than women, according to the clinical classification of severity. Age-related changes in the immune system are also different between sexes and there is a marked association between morbidity/mortality and advanced age in COVID-19. This is a single-center, retrospective, data oriented study performed at the private hospital, in Central Province, Sri Lanka. The data of the patients who performed the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) to know whether they have infected by SARS-CoV-2 or not, were taken for analysis. Test performed date, age, sex, number of positive and negative cases, number of male and female patients were extracted. Finally the data were analyzed in simple statistical method according to the objective of the study. Totally 642 patients performed RAT within the period of one month from 11.08.2021 to 11.09.2021. Among them 426 (66.35%) are male and 216 (33.64%) are female. 20.4% (n=131) of male obtained positive result among the total male population (n=426). Likewise 11.4% (n=73) of female obtained positive result among the total male population (n=216).  Large number of positive cases was observed (34.89%) between the age group of 31-40 years in both sexes. The age group of 21-30 and 41-50 years also were shared the almost same percentage (17.13% & 17.75). The large number of positive male patients observed among the age group of 41-50 years. Almost same number of patients was observed in the age group of 21-30 and 31-40. The least number of positive cases (0.7% and 0.9%) observed almost in 0-10 and 81-90 years. When considering the females, large number of positive female patients observed among the age group of 31-40 years.

Key words: Rapid Antigen Test, Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2

INTRODUCTION

A rapid antigen test (RAT) or rapid antigen detection test (RADT), is a rapid diagnostic test suitable for point-of-care testing that directly detects the presence of an antigen. It is used to detect SARS-CoV-2 that cause COVID-19. This test is one of the type of lateral flow tests that detect protein, differentiate it from other medical tests such as antibody tests or nucleic acid tests, of either laboratory or point-of-care types. Generally 5 to 30 minutes only will take to get result and, require minimal training or infrastructure, and cost effective (1).

Sri Lanka was extremely vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19 because of its thriving tourism industry and large expatriate population. Sri Lanka almost managed two waves of Covid-19 pandemic well, but has been facing difficulties to control the third wave. The Sri Lankan government has executed stern actions to control the disease including island-wide travel restrictions. The government has been working with its development partners to take necessary action to mobilize resources to respond to the health and economic challenges posed by the pandemic (2) (3).

The COVID 19 outbreak is dangerous and fatal for elderly population. Since the beginning of the actual SARS-CoV-2 outbreak there were an evident that older people were at higher risk to get the infection and develop a more severe with bad prognosis. The mean age of patients that died was 80 years. The majority of those who are infected, that have a self-limiting infection and do recover are younger. On the other hand, those who suffer with more severe disease require intensive care unit admission and finally pass away are older (4).

Sandoval.  M., et al mentioned that the number of patients who are affected by SARS-CoV-2 with more than 80 years of age is similar to that with 65–79 years. The mortality rate in very elderly was 37.5% and this percentage was significantly higher compared to that observed in elderly. Further their findings were suggested that the age is a fundamental risk factor for mortality (5).

Since February 2020, more than 27.7 million people in US have been diagnosed with Covid-19 (6). Rates of COVID-19 deaths have increased across the Southern US, among the Hispanic population, and among adults aged 25–44 years (7). Young adults are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 because of exposure in work, academic, and social settings. According to the several database of different health organizations young adult, aged 18-29, were confirmed Coid-19 (9).

Go to:Amid of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, much emphasis was initially placed on the elderly or those who have preexisting health conditions such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes as being at high risk of contracting and/or dying of Covid-19. But it is now becoming clear that being male is also a factor. The epidemiological findings reported across different parts of the world indicated higher morbidity and mortality in males than females. While it is still too early to determine why the gender gap is emerging, this article point to several possible factors such as higher expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE 2; receptors for coronavirus) in male than female, sex-based immunological differences driven by sex hormone and X chromosome. Furthermore, a large part of this difference in number of deaths is caused by gender behavior (lifestyle), i.e., higher levels of smoking and drinking among men compared to women. Lastly, studies reported that women had more responsible attitude toward the Covid-19 pandemic than men. Irresponsible attitude among men reversibly affect their undertaking of preventive measures such as frequent handwashing, wearing of face mask, and stay at home orders.

The latest immunological study on the receptors for SARS-CoV-2 suggest that ACE2 receptors are responsible for SARS-CoV-2. According to the study by Lu and colleagues there are positive correlation of ACE2 expression and the infection of SARS-CoV (10). Based on the positive correlation between ACE 2 and coronavirus, different studies quantified the expression of ACE 2 proteins in human cells based on gender ethnicity and a study on the expression level and pattern of human ACE 2 using a single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis indicated that Asian males had higher expression of ACE 2 than female (11). Conversely, in establishing the expression of ACE 2 in the primary affected organ, a study conducted in Chinese population found that expression of ACE 2 in human lungs was extremely expressed in Asian male than female (12).

A study by Karnam and colleagues reveled that CD200-CD200R and sex are host factors that together determine the outcome of viral infection. Further a review on association between sex differences in immune responses stated that sex-based immunological differences contribute to variations in the susceptibility to infectious diseases and responses to vaccines in males and females (13). The concept of sex-based immunological differences driven by sex hormone and X chromosome has been well demonstrated via the animal study by Elgendy et al (14) (35). They were concluded the study that estrogen played big role in blocking some viral infection.

The biological differences in the immune systems between men and women may cause impact on fight for infection. Females are more resistant to infections than men and which mediated by certain factors including sex hormones. Further, women have more responsible attitude toward the Covid-19 pandemic than men such as frequent hand washing, wearing of face mask, and stay at home (15).

Most of the studies with Covid-19 patients indicate that males are mostly (more than 50%) affected than females (16) (17) (18). Although the deceased patients were significantly older than the patients who survived COVID-19, ages were comparable between males and females in both the deceased and the patients who survived (18).

A report in The Lancet and Global Health 5050 summary showed that sex-disaggregated data are essential to understanding the distribution of risk, infection and disease in the population, and the extent to which sex and gender affect clinical outcomes (19). The degree of outbreaks which affect men and women in different ways is an important to design the effective equitable policies and interventions (20). A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted to assess the sex difference in acquiring COVID-19 with 57 studies that revealed that the pooled prevalence of COVID-19 confirmed cases among men and women was 55% and 45% respectively (21). A study in Ontario, Canada showed that men were more likely to test positive (22) (23). In Pakistan 72% of COVID-19 cases were male (24). Moreover, the Global Health 5050 data showed that the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases and the death rate due to the disease are high among men in different countries. This might be because behavioral factors and roles which increase the risk of acquiring COVID-19 for men than women. (25) (26) (27).

Men mostly involved in several activities such as alcohol consumption, being involved in key activities during burial rites, and working in basic sectors and occupations that require them to continue being active, to work outside their homes and to interact with other people even during the containment phase. Therefore, men have increased level of exposure and high risk of getting COVID-19 (28) (29) (30).

Men tended to develop more symptomatic and serious disease than women, according to the clinical classification of severity (31). The same incidence also noticed during the previous coronavirus epidemics. Biological sex variation is said to be one of the reasons for the sex discrepancy in COVID-19 cases, severity and mortality (32) (33). Women are in general able to stand a strong immune response to infections and vaccinations (34).

The X chromosome is known to contain the largest number of immune-related genes in the whole genome. With their XX chromosome, women have a double copy of key immune genes compared with a single copy in XY in men. This showed that the reaction against infection would be contain both innate and adaptive immune response. Therefore the immune systems of females are generally more responsive than females and it indirectly reflects that women are able to challenge the coronavirus more effectively but this has not been proven (32).

Sex differences in the prevalence and outcomes of infectious diseases occur at all ages, with an overall higher burden of bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections in human males (36) (37) (38) (39). The Hong Kong SARS-CoV-1 epidemic showed an age-adjusted relative mortality risk ratio of 1.62 (95% CI = 1.21, 2.16) for males (40). During the same outbreak in Singapore, male sex was associated with an odds ratio of 3.10 (95% CI = 1.64, 5.87; p ≤ 0.001) for ITU admission or death (41). The Saudi Arabian MERS outbreak in 2013 - 2014 exhibited a case fatality rate of 52% in men and 23% in women (42). Sex differences in both the innate and adaptive immune system have been previously reported and may account for the female advantage in COVID-19. Within the adaptive immune system, females have higher numbers of CD4+ T (43) (44) (45) (46) (47) (48) cells, more robust CD8+ T cell cytotoxic activity (49), and increased B cell production of immunoglobulin compared to males (43) (50). Female B cells also produce more antigen-specific IgG in response to TIV (51).

Age-related changes in the immune system are also different between sexes and there is a marked association between morbidity/mortality and advanced age in COVID-19 (52). For example, males show an age-related decline in B cells and a trend towards accelerated immune ageing. This may further contribute to the sex bias seen in COVID-19 (53).

Hence, this single center, retrospective, data oriented study performed to identify the gender age influences the RAT results and the rate of positive cases before and after the lockdown.

METHODOLOGY

This is a single-center, retrospective, data oriented study performed at the private hospital, Central Province, Sri Lanka. The data of the patients who performed the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) from 11.08.2021to 11.0.2021 to know whether they have infected by SARS-CoV-2 or not, were taken for analysis. The authors developed a data extraction form on an Excel sheet and the following data from main data sheet. Test performed date, age, sex, number of positive and negative cases, number of female patients and number of male patients were extracted. Mistyping of data was resolved by crosschecking. Finally the data were analyzed in simple statistical method according to the objective of the study.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Totally 642 patients performed RAT within the period of one month from 11.08.2021 to 11.09.2021. Among them 426 (66.35%) are male and 216 (33.64%) are female. Men mostly involved in several activities such as alcohol consumption, being involved in key activities during burial rites, and working in basic sectors and occupations that require them to continue being active, to work outside their homes and to interact with other people even during the containment phase. Therefore, men have increased level of exposure and high risk of getting COVID-19 (28) (29) (30). The present data descriptive study also were supported certain previous research findings.

Figure 1: RAT positive male cases among the total male patients performed RAT with days

Figure 1 shows that the number of male patients got positive result in RAT among the total male patients who performed RAT on every day. According to that, 20.4% (n=131) of male obtained positive result among the total male population (n=426). Philip Goulder, professor of immunology at the University of Oxford stated that women’s immune response to the virus is stronger since they have two X chromosomes which is important when talk about the immune response against SARS-Cov-2. Because the protein by which viruses such as coronavirus are detected is fixed on the X chromosome. This is exactly looks like females have double protection compare to male. The present study also showed that large number of RAT positive cases were observed in males compare to females. Gender based lifestyle would have been another possibility for large number of males got positive in RATs. There are important behavioral differences between the sexes according to certain previous research findings (54).

Figure 2: RAT positive female cases among the total female patients performed RA

Figure 2 shows that the number of female patients got positive result in RAT among the total female patients who performed RAT on every day. According to that, 11.4% (n=73) of female obtained positive result among the total male population (n=216).

Figure 3: The pattern of total RAT positive cases before and after lockdown.

Figure 3 showed that the relations between the number of positive cases before and after the lockdown. The lockdown declared by the tenth day from the initial day when the data was taken for analysis. The red vertical line differentiates the period as two such as before and after the lockdown. Though there was no decline observed as soon as immediately considerable decline was observed after the 21 days of onset of lockdown. Staying at home, avoiding physical contacts, and avoiding exposure in crowded areas are the best way to prevent the spread of Covid – 19 (54). However the significant decline would be able to see after three weeks only from the date of lockdown since the incubation period of SARS-CoV-2 is 14-21 days. The continuous study should be conducted in order to prove it. However the molecular mechanism of COVID-19 transmission pathway from human to human is still not resolved, the common transmission of respiratory diseases is droplet sprinkling. In this type of spreading, a sick person is exposed to this microbe to people around him by coughing or sneezing. Only the way to prevent these kind of respiratory diseases might be prevent the people to make close contact (54) (55). Approximately 214 countries reported the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (56). Countries including Sri Lanka have taken very serious constraints such as announced vacation for schools, allowed the employers to work from home and etc. to slow down the COVID 19 outbreak. The lockdown days differ by countries. Countries have set the days when the lockdown started and ended according to the COVID-19 effect on their public. Some countries have extended the lockdown by many days due to COVID-19 continues its influence intensely on the public (57) (58).

Figure 4: Incidence of COVI 19 by age group

Figure 4 showed that the incidence of Covid-19 and age group. Accordingly large number was observed (34.89%) between the age group of 31-40 years in both sexes. The age group of 21-30 and 41-50 years also were shared the almost same percentage (17.13% & 17.75). A study provides evidence that the growing COVID-19 epidemics in the US in 2020 have been driven by adults aged 20 to 49 and, in particular, adults aged 35 to 49, before and after school reopening (59). However many researches pointed out that adults over the age of 60 years are more susceptible to infection since their immune system gradually loses its resiliency.

Figure 5: The age group and RAT positive male cases among the total positive cases

Figure 6: Age group and RAT positive female cases

Figure 5 & 6 showed that the relations between the positive number of male & female patients and the age group of total patients. According to that the large number of positive male patients observed among the age group of 41-50 years. Almost same number of patients was observed in the age group of 21-30 and 31-40. The least number of positive cases (0.7% and 0.9%) observed almost in 0-10 and 81-90 years. When considering the females, large number of positive female patients observed among the age group of 31-40 years. In USA Ministry of Health has reported 444 921 COVID-19 cases and 15 756 deaths as of August 31. For men, most reported cases were persons aged 30–39 years (22.7%), followed by 20–29 year-olds (20.1%) and 40–49 year-olds (17.1%). Most reported deaths were seniors, especially 70–79 year-olds (29.5%), followed by those aged 80 years and older (29.2%), and 60–69 year-olds (22.8%). Also found a similar pattern for women, except that most deaths were reported among women aged 80 years and older (44.4%) (60).

Figure 7: Age group and the positive cases

Table 1: Relations between the age group, sex, and RAT results

CONCLUSION

The present study showed that the male are mostly got positive in RAT test than female. Further comparing the old age young age group in both sexes were noticed as positive in RAT. Moreover there were no relationship observed before and after the lockdown and trend of Covid-19

 The limitations of the study

This study has several limitations.

Only 1 hospital was studied.

More than the absence of specific data on mobility patterns or transportation, detail of recovery, detail of mortality etc.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing so statistical analysis should continue. There are conflicting statements regarding lockdown by countries on COVID-19.

The effect of the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on human health may be the subject of future work

For more information: https://jmedcasereportsimages.org/about-us/

For more submission : https://jmedcasereportsimages.org/

#Rapid Antigen Test #Covid-19 #SARS-CoV-2 #biological #RAT #CD200-CD200R #ACE 2 #immunological #Piratheepkumar. R #jcrmhs

[cohenaquc]

Brain cancer research pdf

 BRAIN CANCER RESEARCH PDF >>Download (Telecharger) vk.cc/c7jKeU

  BRAIN CANCER RESEARCH PDF >> Lire en ligne bit.do/fSmfG

           de L Soroceanu · Cité 158fois — Glioblastoma is the most common form of primary adult brain tumors. У2012 American Association for Cancer Research. Cancer. Research. de I THIERRY-CHEF — This project has received funding from the Euratom research and increased risk of haematological malignancies and brain cancers, de M Kundi · 2010 · Cité 17fois — In response to these concerns epidemiological studies have been conducted, For brain tumours latencies of decades have been implicated making specialde C Bastiancich · 2021 · Cité 17fois — Glioblastoma (GBM) is a very aggressive primary malignant brain tumor and finding effective therapies is a pharmaceutical challenge and an de K Karipidis · 2018 · Cité 39fois — Objective Some studies have reported increasing trends in certain brain tumours and a possible link with mobile phone use has been suggested. We Brain Tumour Program and Clinic - Information for Patients and their Families MUHC. 2016. link.pdf Slide Show: Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning Mayo 5 juil. 2022 — Seven studies [9,19, [22] [23][24][25]41] that assessed exposure to pesticides during pregnancy suggested an increased risk of BT, in de A Clavreul · 2019 · Cité 16fois — Abstract. Background: Glioblastomas (GB) are the most common and lethal primary brain tumors. Significant progress has. de A Roux · 2019 · Cité 20fois — is the most common malignant primary brain tumor in adults (1). Tumor location is a key improves the accuracy of neuro-anatomic studies owing to.

https://www.tumblr.com/cohenaquc/698143518882988032/pioneer-mixtrax-double-din-notice-mode-demploi, https://www.tumblr.com/cohenaquc/698142282014179328/corso-di-portoghese-brasiliano-pdf-files, https://www.tumblr.com/cohenaquc/698143518882988032/pioneer-mixtrax-double-din-notice-mode-demploi, https://www.tumblr.com/cohenaquc/698142282014179328/corso-di-portoghese-brasiliano-pdf-files, https://www.tumblr.com/cohenaquc/698142282014179328/corso-di-portoghese-brasiliano-pdf-files.

[pinerany]

Shiira marvel

Phase 5 of the expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with new releases, reboots, and spin-offs. Cyndi was also a beloved teacher for more than 42 years. She was an active member of OlaNui from 2006, and Nuuanu Baptist Church from 1979 to 2006. Cyndi was passionate about her love for Jesus. Zimmer is consistently creating new work from her studio in Euclid, Ohio where she welcomes visitors and students. Shiira Shimazaki, Writer: Bouken Shite mo Ii Koro. 66, of Honolulu, Hawaii, passed away on Thursday, March 17, 2022. Evie's work has also been digitally displayed on billboards in Baltimore and on Sunset Blvd. He has brown eyes with matching dark brown hair, lightly swept. Shiira wears a royal guard outfit with a white cloth on top. He and Kai are shown to have taken an interest in Zen and Shirayuki's relationship. They both guard the Poet Gate of the Wistal Palace. He is a senior gatekeeper and is the partner of Kai Ulkir. This transformation in style has earned Evie a number of awards and publications both nationally and internationally including International Artist Magazine, American Art Collector, 10Ten Magazine (UK), and Les Femme Follies and online features by Vice Creators and Niji Magazine. Shiira Eigan ( Shiira Eigan) is a guard in Clarines. Zimmer's oil paintings have been described as a "strange loop of process and product that radiate an inherent energy field." Her more recent work has evolved and become more floral and symmetrical combining her original style with realistic imagery. Star Wars (Marvel) 39 Star Wars (Marvel) 40 Star Wars (Marvel) 41 Star. Zimmer's innovative artwork challenges the viewer with optic effects that imitate computer generated imagery. Luke finds a new love interest in Shira Brie, but the romance is doomed to. The live dictionary works in Shiira like it does in Safari. Her earlier kaleidoscopic abstract paintings earned her local and national recognition. for awhile until I get a better feel for this marvel, so Safari it will be till then. Evie Zimmer is an American artist creating and teaching in Cleveland, Ohio. Gladiator leads the elite corps of the Imperial Guard that protects and carries out the personal directives of the majestor or majestrix (emperor or empress) of.

#Shiira marvel

[pinercamera]

Metro 4 for 100

#Metro 4 for 100 for free

I wasn’t just hypnotized by the rhythmic movement of trains from station to station, I was completely absorbed in making them perfect." - IGN DemoYou can check out Mini Metro for yourself and play a game on the London map in the demo. "Mini Metro’s clean, stylish interface encourages me over and over again to make the trains run on time, and there’s a deeper amount of strategy to growing a sprawling metro system than meets the eye. If you love Mini Metro, check out the highway-planning follow up Mini Motorways! More from Dinosaur Polo ClubYou can find us on all the usual social media haunts like Facebook and Twitter.

Vast library of player-created maps for you to explore in Steam Workshop!.

Responsive soundtrack created by your metro system, engineered by Disasterpeace.

Acceso cerrado desde el 30 de julio hasta la primera quincena de septiembre, por obras de modernización de las instalaciones. If you think it's a keeper, save it, tweet it, show it off, or make it your desktop background! Acceso a línea 2 dirección Las Rosas y línea 4 dirección Argüelles.

Each game's map is a work of art, built by you in the classic abstract subway style of Harry Beck.

A strategy that proved successful last game may not help you in the next.

Random city growth, so each game plays out differently.

The trains pass every 2 to 15 minutes depending on the time of day. Budapest Metro opens every day at 4:30 am and runs until 11 pm. It connects the two main railway stations in the city: Keleti Railway Station and Kelenfld Railway Station.

Over two dozen real-world cities! Design subways for London, Paris, New York City, Osaka, Saint Petersburg, São Paulo, Istanbul, Auckland and many more! Each has a unique colour theme, set of obstacles, and pace. Line 4 (green line) Opened in 2014, the metro line 4 runs for 4 miles (7 kilometres).

Build your metro exactly how you want to with the all-new Creative mode.

#Metro 4 for 100 for free

I just missed having the Stylo 4 for free with port ins. Hopefully they will bring back POGO or something. Up to 60,000 miles 2 Up to 80,000 miles 5 Seller type. That deal brought so much customer traffic and was easier to sell to others. Three game modes: Normal for quick scored games, Endless for stress-free sandbox play, and Extreme for the ultimate challenge. Cute Teens, Hot Sexy Girls, Young Teen Babes, Porn Pics with Nude Teenie Girls Pictures of Hot Naked Women Browse through our far stretching nude girls pictures including varied categories as pierced, lesbian, Latina, Cosplay, Latex. METRO 25 11 45 8 75 41 100 10 200 10 400 6 600 4 800 9 CABRIOLET 1 MINI 76 STREETWISE 1 Show more options in Model Year.It doesn't though, aye? You just gotta play it. Compelling, constructive, hectic, relaxed gameplay.How long the city keeps moving is up to you. The new assets you earn every week will help immensely - as long as they're used wisely.Įventually your network will fail. You'll be constantly redesigning your lines to maximise efficiency. Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created. The demands on your network are ever-increasing. Four lines of unlimited LTE at MetroPCS costs nearly half what you’d pay at Cricket (100 vs 180) yeah, you read that right. More stations are opening, and commuters are appearing faster. Each station can only hold a handful of waiting commuters so your subway network will need to be well-designed to avoid delays. Commuters travel along your lines to get around the city as fast as they can. Draw routes between these stations to connect them with subway lines. Before you go any further if you dont like spoilers, dont use this walk-through as it is unavoidable for me not to mention them. These fees and commissions do not influence the amount a customer pays.In Mini Metro, you take on the task of designing the subway layout for a rapidly expanding city. Auto Trader receives a fee from retailers advertising finance and may receive a commission from commercial partners for introducing customers to finance products. Representative finance examples are for illustrative purposes only. Auto Trader Limited is a credit broker and not a lender. Play Store logo hp-download-android-app hp-download-android-app hp-download-android-appĬopyright © Auto Trader Limited 2022.Auto Trader Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to consumer credit and insurance mediation activities.Help us improve our website Send feedback

#Metro 4 for 100

[the-golden-ghost]

ohhhh 41 for davy (he lives in my brain rent free now)

41. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

Oh he DEFINITELY needs to earn it. If he was ever given something without some kind of struggle for it he probably would be extremely suspicious or possibly even likely to refuse.

You might think this is weird cause he's a thief but he doesn't steal out of entitlement or thinking he deserves what others have; it's for the Challenge of it all. If he can successfully take something and get away with it then in his mind he HAS earned that thing.

#Davy

[urbanhermit]

Limited exposure to TS Eliot in seminary high school & college, I had even less to Tennessee Williams. I began exploring earlier this year the biography & writings of Eliot, especially his St Louis formative influences. In August 2022 I read ‘Blue Song’ on Williams St Louis formative influences, & now ‘Tennessee Williams in Provincetown’ (2007) by David Kaplan. I wanted to know more about how Provincetown influenced his writings. Two plays were set in Provincetown, ‘Something Cloudy [cataracts], Something Clear’, & the semi-autobiographical ‘The Parade’. Kaplan writes ‘Williams will be seen as American: reared in the South, shaped by New England, by New York, & by California’, ignoring his 20 yrs. in St Louis [border state] & the Midwest. Williams himself would be challenged in ‘Memoirs’ for never acknowledging his year at Washington University in St Louis. Other plays, 3 major ones, written by Williams during his days in Provincetown: ‘The Glass Menagerie’, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, ‘The Night of the Iguana’ [316 Broadway performances], & ‘Suddenly Last Summer’. He would spend 4 summers in P-Town: 1940, ’41, ’44, & ’47. There he would interact with the German expressionist Hans Hofmann, & American abstract artists Jackson Pollock & Lee Krasner. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch9ZgjYuFko/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=