Destruction Of Subject Research Articles

A Private Honesty: Torture and Interiority in the Theatre of Sarah Kane

This article analyzes the role of pain and torture in the construction and destruction of subjectivity by way of a comparison of the depictions of torture in the theatre of Sarah Kane and Elaine’s Scarry’s highly influential The Body in Pain: On the Making and Unmaking of the World. The essay uses Kane in conjunction with the phenomenology of Emmanuel Levinas, as well as relevant work on the history and sociology of privacy and private speech. Its purpose is to develop an account of what is here called pain’s bi-directional character, or its capacity to represent both the presence and the absence of the victim’s subjectivity, possibly at the same time. Using Kane to expand upon Scarry’s account of the role of subjectivity in torture, we can see how the logic of torture structures numerous relationships in Kane’s work, including Blasted, Phaedra’s Love, Cleansed, and Crave. The essay establishes Kane as not only a major playwright, but also a subtle and perceptive theorist of suffering for whom the question of intersubjectivity is a major site of dramatic struggle. Jeremy Colangelo is the author of Diaphanous Bodies: Ability, Disability, and Modernist Irish Literature (University of Michigan Press, 2021) and the editor of Joyce Writing Disability (University Press of Florida, 2022). His work has appeared in such journals as Modern Fiction Studies, Journal of Modern Literature, Textual Practice, and Modern Drama. He currently teaches at King’s University College, University of Western Ontario.

Prevention strategies for type 1 diabetes: a story of promising efforts and unmet expectations.

A number of studies have investigated primary and secondary prevention strategies for type 1 diabetes (T1D), since early interventions might improve long-term outcomes through the amelioration of immune processes and the preservation of beta-cell mass. Primary prevention trials focus on genetically at-risk individuals prior to the appearance of autoimmunity, whereas secondary prevention trials aim to halt the progression of complete beta-cell destruction in subjects with established islet autoimmunity (IA). Different approaches have been tested so far, focusing on both pharmaceutical (insulin and monoclonal antibodies) and non-pharmaceutical (vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, and nicotinamide) interventions, as well as on environmental factors that are believed to trigger autoimmunity in T1D (cow's milk, gluten, and bovine insulin). Albeit certain strategies have displayed efficacy in reducing IA development rates, most efforts have been unsuccessful in preventing the onset of the disease in high-risk individuals. Moreover, significant heterogeneity in study designs, included populations, and explored outcomes renders the interpretation of study results challenging. The aim of this narrative review is to present and critically evaluate primary and secondary prevention strategies for T1D, seeking to fill existing knowledge gaps and providing insight into future directions.

Post-postmodernism and Current Trends in the Development of Legal Philosophy: The End of the Postmodern Paradigm or a New Beginning?

The article deals with the postmodern problematization of the possibility of a certain value scale, which, in turn, makes it possible the qualification of human acts and the subject’s responsibility for the committed acts. Based on the analysis of the state of modern culture, the prospects of the postmodern paradigm and the corresponding trends in the development of the philosophy of law are outlined. In the first part of the article, a crisis of the basic postulates of postmodern culture is ascertained. It manifests itself in such conditions as deontologization of cultural meanings (generated by the idea of narrativeness) and axiological acentrism (the lack of hierarchical structure of the cultural environment assessments and values). In philosophical postmodernism, the latter is expressed by the presumption of «sunset of metanarratives». The consequence was the destruction of subjectivity and ethics in its traditional sense, including the idea of a person’s legal responsibility for committed acts. The second part of the article discusses the problem of the possibility of law in the context of various projects for the transformation of postmodern discourse in the framework of the general program of «resurrecting the subject», that is, the creation of a new anthropology as an opportunity for moral and legal obligation: an imprinting project, a neoclassicism project, and a communication project. In their unity, the indicated strategies for overcoming the «crisis of identification» set the new stage of the evolution of postmodern philosophy – post-postmodernism – and open up new possibilities for the philosophy of law.

William and William; the birth and death of subjectivity in the works of William Shakespeare and William S. Burroughs

We open with the question of subjectivity as it is presented in Hamlet; the focus then moves to the breakdown of subjectivity as experienced in extreme situations and clinical psychosis. Gabel’s idea of continuity from psychosis to ideology (false consciousness) is used to show that William S. Burroughs is in fact a theorist of global ideological pathology. The concept of reification allows us to combine the voices of Gabel and Burroughs. This is not a study of what has been said about Burroughs or Shakespeare, our concern is with the future of the City, not the nature of the finger that points towards it. The cycle of “William & William” refers to the birth and destruction of subjectivity as defined by “conditions such as these”.

Mannose-binding lectin gene polymorphism in relation to periodontal infection.

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) plays an important role in innate immunity. MBL deficiency is usually caused by mutations in exon 1 of the MBL structural gene (MBL2). Our aim was to investigate MBL2 polymorphisms and their relation to salivary levels of periodontal inflammatory/tissue destruction markers and two major periodontitis-associated bacteria. Salivary samples from 222 subjects were available for genotyping by pyrosequencing. The subjects between 40 and 60 years of age and having a minimum of 20 teeth were divided into three periodontal groups: 80 had generalized periodontitis, 65 had localized periodontitis and 77 were periodontitis-free. A comparison between their MBL2 genotypes and salivary detection rates and levels of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis as well as interleukin -1β, matrix metalloproteinase -8, and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 was performed. The frequencies of the MBL2 wild-type (A/A), heterozygote variants (A/O) and homozygote variants (O/O) were 69.4%, 26.6% and 4%, respectively. In A. actinomycetemcomitans-positive subjects having homozygote or heterozygote MBL2 variants, the salivary concentrations of IL-1β (p = 0.010) were elevated and those of TIMP-1 (p = 0.001) were decreased. In addition their matrix metalloproteinase -8/TIMP-1 ratio was higher (p < 0.001) and they had more pocket teeth (p = 0.012) than subjects negative for A. actinomycetemcomitans. Our findings indicate that the carriage of A. actinomycetemcomitans may facilitate extended periodontal inflammation and destruction in subjects with a variant form of human MBL2.

The Self in Exile: Heidegger’s Destruction of Subjectivity

The modern notion of the subject as constant self-presence that conditions the truthful appearance of phenomena is brought under sustained critical scrutiny by Heidegger. More than critical scrutiny, Heidegger offered a positive sketch of what is other than the subject, Dasein. Understanding the human being as openness for the circulation and preservation of the meaning of what-is as such is posed as the negation of the self-contained closure and interiority that subjectivity is. Levinas sees materialism and the loss of interiority and freedom in Heidegger’s project, inclining more towards an ethics of things rather than persons. However, Levinas’s criticisms themselves are not free of the modern predilection for the human, albeit in a fresh and rich way. Conversely, it can be argued that that being which is open to the world of things and people still has a profound interior dimension because it is in each case mine. The Heideggerian notion of human agency and freedom may be appropriated as a possible response to technological nihilism and modern subjectivism.

Supratimas ir subjektyvumas: hermeneutinės H.G. Gadamerio ir K. O. Apelio strategijos

Polemic of K.-O. Apel against H.-G. Gadamers philosophical hermeneutics moots the question about the difference between ontological and methodological approaches to the phenomenon of understanding. This problem is treated in the paper on the ground of the analysis of the role of subjectivity in the communicative and hermeneutical models of the two thinkers. The results is the contrast between the pragmatic “regulative idea” of the total subjectivity in Apel and the ontological destruction of subjectivity in Gadamer. The author assumes that it can contribute to the demarcation between pragmaticmethodological and ontological strategies in hermeneutics.

Smoking and patterns of bone loss in early-onset periodontitis.

The aims of this study were to investigate the extent and distribution of bone loss in subjects with early-onset periodontitis (EOP) referred for periodontal care and to study the relationship between smoking and EOP. A total of 71 consecutive referrals (21 male, 50 female) under 35 years old, who were otherwise healthy, with a clinical diagnosis of severe periodontitis were recruited for the study. Bone loss was measured from available radiographs using a Schei ruler to identify 2 patterns of destruction: localized (LEOP) in 41 (58%) and generalized early-onset periodontitis (GEOP) in 30 (42%) subjects. The study population had a mean of 25.0 (SD 2.4) teeth, excluding third molars, and mean bone loss of 28.7% (SD 13.0). Bone loss was more severe in the maxilla, 30.9% (SD 13.8) compared with 26.6% (SD 14.0) in the lower arch. More than one-third (36%) of the teeth examined had at least 30% bone loss. Mean smoking experience was 9.2 pack years (SD 5.6), and 39 (55%) of the EOP subjects smoked. Smokers had significantly more maxillary bone loss than non-smokers. A much higher proportion of GEOP (70%) currently smoked compared with 44% of LEOP, P = 0.029. It is concluded that young adults with early-onset forms of periodontitis often have advanced periodontal destruction before they are referred for specialist care. In addition, there was a relationship between smoking and severe bone destruction in subjects with EOP, particularly those with generalized disease.

The effect of supragingival plaque control on the progression of advanced periodontal disease.

The aim of the present trial was to study the effect of meticulous supragingival plaque control on (i) the subgingival microbiota, and (ii) the rate of progression of attachment loss in subjects with advanced periodontal disease. An intra-individual group of sites exposed to non-surgical periodontal therapy served as controls. 12 patients with advanced periodontal disease were subjected to a baseline examination (BL) including assessments of oral hygiene status, gingival condition (BoP), probing depth, clinical attachment level and subgingival microbiota from pooled samples from each quadrant. The assessments were repeated after 12, 24 and 36 months. Following BL, a split mouth study was initiated. The patients received oral hygiene instruction, supragingival scaling and case presentation. 2 quadrants in each patient were identified as "test" and the remaining 2 as "control" quadrants. Subgingival therapy was performed in all bleeding sites in the control quadrants. Oral hygiene instructions and plaque control exercises were repeated once every 2 weeks during the initial 3 months of the study. Thereafter the plaque control program was repeated once every 3 months for the duration of the 3 years. Sites demonstrating loss of clinical attachment > or =2 mm in the test quadrants were treated subgingivally. The results showed that in both test and control quadrants repeated oral hygiene instructions and supragingival plaque removal procedures resulted in low plaque scores throughout the study. The gingival bleeding scores and the frequency of periodontal pockets > or =4 mm was, however, significantly higher in the test quadrants than in the control quadrants. At the end of the 3 year study, the control quadrants showed significantly more reduced (> or =2 mm) pockets than the test quadrants, 265 versus 96. The number of sites in the test quadrants showing probing attachment loss > or =2 mm was more than 4x greater than in the control quadrants (59 versus 13). The microbiological findings indicate a more pronounced reduction only for P. gingivalis in the control quadrants. None of the other 4 marker bacteria consistently reflected or predicted the clinical parameters. The present study shows that only supragingival plaque control fails to prevent further periodontal tissue destruction in subjects with advanced periodontal disease.

Microscopic spirochete counts in untreated subjects with and without periodontal tissue destruction

The purpose of the study was to determine microscopically the %s of spirochetes at sites without periodontal destruction in subjects with destructive periodontal diseases (cases) and in subjects free of it (controls), who had not received professional prophylaxis. From a sample of 164 individuals aged between 30-44 years living in rural and urban areas of Tanzania, cases and controls were selected. Cases (n = 25) were selected who exhibited at least 3 teeth with pocket depth of > 5 mm. The controls (n = 28) had no pockets deeper than 3 mm. From each subject, 1 subgingival plaque sample was taken at the mid point of the lingual surface of 1 of the upper premolars which showed bleeding on probing but no calculus and no pockets. In addition, one subgingival sample was obtained from a pocket. Pockets contained the highest %s of spirochetes, which confirms earlier findings. A significant difference in % of spirochetes between cases and controls was found at non-destructive sites, indicating a host effect on the subgingival microflora. However, the spirochete counts at non-destructive sites did not provide a reliable measure to identify subjects with destructive periodontal disease.

Inflammatory islet damage in patients bearing HLA-DR 3 and/or DR 4 haplotypes does not lead to islet autoimmunity

The hypothesis was tested that islet autoimmunity is induced by ongoing islet cell destruction in subjects with susceptibility genes HLA-DR 3 and/or DR 4. Sixty-one patients with confirmed chronic pancreatitis were analysed, 30 of whom expressed HLA-DR 3 and/or DR 4. Electron microscopy studies in 10 patients showed that the inflammatory process also affected islets, as recognisable from islet cell lysis, intrainsular fibrosis and immune cell infiltrates. None of the sera tested contained any of three markers of islet autoimmunity, ICA, IAA or GAD antibodies. A correlation was seen between the loss of exocrine function, as determined by the ALTAB-test, and of beta-cell function, as determined by the C-peptide response to i.v. glucagon. However, there was no preferential loss of beta-cell function in patients with HLA-DR 3 and/or DR 4. We conclude that islet cell destruction occurs during chronic pancreatitis, but does not trigger islet autoimmunity, even in the presence of HLA-DR 3 and/or DR 4.

Destruction of Subject before Completion. Amount of Recovery. Hayes v. Gross, 40 N. Y. Supp. 1099

Destruction of Subject before Completion. Amount of Recovery. Hayes v. Gross, 40 N. Y. Supp. 1099