Le Grand Research Articles

Lifestyle shapes bird of prey binocular visual field

Swooping toward a victim with its vicious talons extended, a bird of prey homes in for the kill with meticulous precision. ‘Birds, particularly birds of prey [raptors], are believed to forage primarily using visual cues’, says vision scientist Simon Potier from Lund University, Sweden, who was inspired by his father's love of birds of prey to take up falconry as a small child. Yet, Potier explains that it was not clear how the birds use the region where the views from the two eyes overlap (the binocular zone) during their rapier-like attacks. As the hunting strategies of birds of prey span low-speed scavenging to high-speed aerial and ground prey capture, Potier, Francesco Bonadonna and Olivier Duriez from Université de Montpellier, France, and an international team of collaborators wondered whether the binocular vision of these precision hunters might vary depending on their lifestyle.Potier turned to his own collection of almost 60 birds at Les Ailes de l'Urga theme park in France and other birds from Le Grand Parc du Puy du Fou to measure the binocular visual fields of birds ranging from carrion-feeding vultures to predatory Cooper's hawks and eagles that target victims on the ground. ‘We used a non-invasive procedure to measure visual field characteristics in alert birds’, says Potier, recalling the difficulty of holding the large eagles steady for 20 min while measuring the limit of the view from each eye in order to calculate the binocular region where the visual fields overlapped. ‘The experience of the falconers who helped was essential’, he says. In addition, he had to custom build individual bill holders for each species to keep their heads in place, ‘which took me quite some time to fit perfectly’, he laughs. However, Potier was relieved when the birds appeared unfazed after they were released: ‘Directly after the experiment, they still flew to me, which indicates that they were not stressed’, he smiles.Initially, Potier and his colleagues had anticipated that the binocular visual fields of the hunters would be wider than those of the scavengers, as the hunters have to precisely target a moving victim with their talons while the scavengers’ aim may not need to be as precise. However, the width of the binocular visual fields was remarkably similar. The contrasts were more apparent when the team plotted the full projections of the binocular region, showing that the zone above the beak where the view from the two eyes overlapped tapered more rapidly in the ground-hunting eagles than it did in Cooper's hawks (which target birds on the wing) and the scavenging vultures. There was also an extensive blind zone above the heads of the ground predators – which do not have to outmanoeuvre agile targets on the wing. Considering the various hunting strategies and differences in the head shapes of the 15 species, Potier and his colleagues suspect that the ridge of bone that shades the eyes of the ground-hunting species could partially obscure the upper portion of their binocular field to produce the large blind zone. In addition, their short, but wide, powerful beaks appear to shade the lower portion of their view.‘Our results show that the binocular field configuration is specialized to foraging tactics in raptors’, says Potier, who is keen to scrutinise the vision of the almost exclusively terrestrial secretary bird. ‘They have very large eyes… I would love to estimate their visual field’, he muses.

The vilification of Muslim diaspora in French fictional novels: ‘Soumission’ (2015) and ‘Petit Frère’ (2008) as case studies

ABSTRACTFrance is a European country having the biggest number of Muslim immigrants. The presence of Muslims in France can be traced back to the aftermath of Second World War due to the need for labor. Muslims’ religious practices such as the wearing of ostensible religious symbols lead French intellectuals to consider Islam as incompatible with the Republican values. They also see it as a source of terror, taking into account the various terrorist attacks France has undergone, and which are imputed to a very small number of Muslims. This pushes a slew of writers and scholars to present their standpoints towards Muslims immigrants through some literary works, wherein Muslims are seen as strangers and colonizers that occupy the French territory in large quantities, and this is referred to as ‘Le Grand Remplacement’ [Camus, R. 2012. Le grand remplacement. Neuilly-sur-Seine: David Reinharc]. In this regard, many French writers warn against the possible decline of France [Houllebecq, M. 2015. Soumission. Paris: Flammarion] as it would be conquered by Muslim immigrants wherein the latter would establish their order and laws; thus, France would be Islamized. The present paper aims at delving beneath the textual contents of the novel in order to explore the perceptions and typifications of Muslim immigrants, using textual content analysis.

Abstract 2907: Targeting the epigenetic regulator KAT2a in cancer

Abstract Gene expression frequently requires the dynamic remodelling of the chromatin architecture to orchestrate the assembly of transcriptional protein complexes at the promoter sites of DNA. Chromatin remodelling complexes are multicomponent proteins that facilitate reorganisation of chromatin structure using the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis, and as a result play a pivotal role in controlling gene expression. Mammalian SWI/SNF complexes are examples of chromatin remodelling complexes with multiple roles in maintaining genome stability. It is estimated that 19.6% of all human tumours have mutations in SWI/SNF complexes, leading to the deregulation of gene expression as an early driver of carcinogenesis. Our interest in developing novel treatments for renal cancer focused on the role of the chromatin remodelling complex, PBAF. The BAF180 component of PBAF is mutated in 40 % of clear cell renal carcinomas and its loss is an early event in renal cell tumorigenesis. We performed an siRNA based high throughput screen to identify genes associated with genome stability that were synthetically lethal with the loss of BAF180 and identified KAT2a as a potential druggable target. KAT2a is a protein that also functions in the regulation of gene expression as a component of the SAGA histone modifying complex. It is a multifunctional protein that can both ‘read' and ‘write' acetylation marks on histone proteins through its bromodomain and a histone acetyltransferase domain respectively. We will describe our efforts to establish suitable assays to support the discovery of selective inhibitors of the bromodomain of KAT2a. The work will include the establishment of a high throughput assay to measure compound binding, crystallographic characterisation of small molecule inhibitors of the bromodomain, and our initial studies towards the target validation of the bromodomain to recapitulate the synthetic lethality observed with depletion of BAF180. Citation Format: Andrea Gunnell, Jessica Downs, Lewis Pennicott, Kay Osborn, Darren Le Grand, Katie Duffell, Hitesh Patel, Jessica Hudson, Jessica R. Booth, Simon Ward. Targeting the epigenetic regulator KAT2a in cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2907.

Analyzing the Relationship between Financial Variables and Market Risk in the Tourism Industry

The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of hotel industries in France during five years. The chosen companies are InterContinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and AccorHotels. The analysis is applied on the sample of four company in France over the period between 2012 and 2016. This study is utilizing internal factors such as profitability ratio, liquidity ratio, leverage ratio, average collection period, index score, and BOD remuneration besides considering external factors which include GDP, inflation rate, unemployment rate and exchange rate to see the overall performance and their relationship for four chosen companies among five years. The study found that the companies need to concern more about liquidity risk and operational risk in order to enhance its performance.

The French Protestant Experience in Francophone World Christianity: Jean-François Zorn and the History of the Société des Missions Évangéliques de Paris

ABSTRACT During the last quarter century, a veritable flood of research has been made available on the role of French Protestants in the development of world Christianity. Generally unnoticed by scholarly communities outside the francophone world, this enterprise is transforming historiographies of Europe, Africa, and Oceania. It addresses questions of churches and mission, colonialism, conflict, intercultural relations, power, gender, racism, and more. The research has been largely provoked by that of Jean-François Zorn (professor emeritus, Institut Protestant de Théologie at Montpellier), especially his Le grand siècle d’une mission protestante; La Mission de Paris de 1822–1914. This work created cultural and intellectual space for other scholars. The resulting research is important not only for French Protestantism but for the Christianities of francophone countries, with implications generally for world Christianity. This essay introduces the work of Zorn and the last quarter century of research on the developments of Christianity in the francophone world.

“Le Grand Meaulnes” ou la pureté impossible

Le Grand Meaulnes of Alain-Fournier got stuck in a conventional interpretation where the dimension of dream lying in pureness is clearly opposed to the dimension of a degraded reality. This work tries to show that the relationship between the two terms is far more nuanced. Considering the theme of chromaticism, we observe a meaningful shift in representation techniques when passing from the first to the second part of the text. Beyond the stylistic level, we will assign a strategic value to the succession of two different ways in which characters, situations and objects are introduced: the author’s purpose is thus to drive a wedge between the adventure of the château and its further consequences. In-depth analysis reveals actually that the true opposition is not between the fairytale world of Domaine etrange and the real world of Sablonnieres, but the opposition is within the dream or, even better, within the obsession. Alain Buisine showed better than anyone that this obsession tends to polarize in a scary way the image of idealized woman and the image of carnal woman.

Antoine Le Grand on the identity over time of the human body

ABSTRACTThis paper studies Antoine Le Grand's account of organic identity over time in human bodies. In response to Aristotelian critics who argued that the Cartesian rejection of the Aristotelian ontology of matter and form had put in jeopardy the diachronic identity of material substances in general and of living bodies in particular, Le Grand argued that the identity over time of the human body could be accounted for without the traditional notions of matter and form. The paper shows how he drew on both the Cartesian metaphysics of mind and body and contemporary views on human anatomy and organic generation to develop a unique account of bodily identity over time in human animals.

High-Yield Purification, Preservation, and Serial Transplantation of Human Satellite Cells.

SummaryInvestigation of human muscle regeneration requires robust methods to purify and transplant muscle stem and progenitor cells that collectively constitute the human satellite cell (HuSC) pool. Existing approaches have yet to make HuSCs widely accessible for researchers, and as a result human muscle stem cell research has advanced slowly. Here, we describe a robust and predictable HuSC purification process that is effective for each human skeletal muscle tested and the development of storage protocols and transplantation models in dystrophin-deficient and wild-type recipients. Enzymatic digestion, magnetic column depletion, and 6-marker flow-cytometric purification enable separation of 104 highly enriched HuSCs per gram of muscle. Cryostorage of HuSCs preserves viability, phenotype, and transplantation potential. Development of enhanced and species-specific transplantation protocols enabled serial HuSC xenotransplantation and recovery. These protocols and models provide an accessible system for basic and translational investigation and clinical development of HuSCs.

How stout women were left out of high fashion: An early twentieth-century perspective

Abstract Karl Lagerfeld, head designer and creative director of Chanel, made headlines in 2013 when he made comments against fat women on the French television show Le Grand 8 by saying ‘no one wants to see curvy women on the runway’. Excluding plus-size women from high fashion has occurred since the infancy of stoutwear manufacturing (an earlier term used for plus-size) near the start of the twentieth century. It is important to note that stoutwear manufacturers created ready-towear designs for middle-class women, but designers did not make or promote highfashion designs in vast quantities for upper-class women. Stout society women and couture clients were certainly consuming high fashion, but high-fashion advertising, commentary and editorials were not inclusive of stout women. In fact, many high-fashion designers stressed the importance and need to be slender. This article uses primary sources from Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, Good Housekeeping and Harper’s Bazaar to analyse the commentary during the introduction and emergence of women’s ready-to-wear and the exclusion of high fashion for stout women by designers.

Are there conservation implications for kangaroos feeding on sea birds?

This research note documents an observation of a wild western grey kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) feeding on a dead silver gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) at Lucky Bay in the Cape Le Grand National Park on the south coast of Western Australia. Published evidence suggests that this behaviour is not unique and could be widespread in Western Australia and further afield. We consider why the kangaroo may be feeding on the dead gull and possible implications for conservation programs relying on poison meat baits to control introduced species.

La danse de Pilar by Charline Effah

Reviewed by: La danse de Pilar by Charline Effah Cheryl Toman Case Effah, Charline. La danse de Pilar. La Cheminante, 2018. Pp 195. ISBN 978-2-371-27103-6. 17 € (paper). Charline Effah, one of Gabon's most critically acclaimed writers, has recently published her third novel, La danse de Pilar, which follows Percées et chimères (2011) and N'être (2014). After publishing her first book with Jets d'encre, Effah accepted a move to La Cheminante for her second and third novels which has paid off for this author considerably; in the June 30th 2015 issue of Jeune Afrique, Alain [End Page 193] Mabanckou claimed that Effah was one of the most talented African women writers since Mariama Bâ and just this year in 2018, Huffpost included N'être on their list of ten "must-read" African novels. Effah has her place on this list alongside other celebrated writers such as Ananda Devi and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. While troubled mother-daughter relationships are at the center of her first two works, Effah makes an unexpected turn in her writing of La danse de Pilar to explore the dark side of politics on the African continent. Gabonese women's writing has, for the most part, notoriously avoided political subjects until recently. The 42-year reign of Omar Bongo came to an end with his death in 2009, but little had changed as his son won controversial elections in both 2009 and 2016 at which time young writers such as Edna Merey-Apinda and Lily Rose Agnouret broke this trend in Gabonese literature, using genres such as short story and poetry respectively to speak out against corruption and dictatorship. Effah's 195-page novel is probably the most groundbreaking with regards to these efforts. Although she never mentions Gabon by name, preferring instead to call the semi-fictitious country "The Democratic Republic of Nlam," there are plenty of daring references to Gabon such as Pilar's participation in the dance troupe known as "Les Lewai Dancers," a group that performs for propaganda events hosted by "le Grand Camarade." Lewai was also the name of the city in French Equatorial Africa where Omar Bongo was born; it is known today as Bongoville. Thus, Effah's use of the name and connecting the troupe with one of her main protagonists is no coincidence. There are other signs and symbols linking her story to Gabon such as the occasional use of Fang phrases, references to trees, stone, and other materials specific to the country, the mention of the indigenous religion known as Bwiti, and a March 12th anniversary celebration of the Grand Camarade's political party (82), the same date Omar Bongo founded the Parti Démocratique Gabonais in 1968. Effah's novel is said to take place in the 1980s. The first few chapters are intentionally confusing at the beginning as to disorient the reader, leading him or her to constantly question the motives of the characters and what is really happening. We slowly realize that the story is about a family—the parents, Pilar and Salomon, their son, Paterne, who is the main narrator, and Jacob, Paterne's half-brother and Salomon's son with a prostitute. Salomon appears to be a member of a political opposition group of anarchists which puts Pilar in an uncomfortable, if not dangerous situation as a Lewai dancer, but as the story develops, the reader soon realizes that Salomon's loyalty could be to potentially anyone who will help him to advance. This remark by the narrator speaks volumes about the relationship between Pilar and Salomon: "Il y avait entre vous deux une méfiance et des ambitions personnelles qui cimentaient votre couple" (53). However, when Salomon's friends in the opposition are all killed during a standoff, Salomon insists on knowing if Pilar had tipped off the government about their activities (137). A few days later, however, Salomon, too is found murdered (140). [End Page 194] Pilar is alone to parent the two boys and, predictably, favors her biological son. She eventually uses mind games to pit the two half-brothers against each other and is physically abusive to Jacob to...

Paint tubes: cinéma vérité as representation

This essay explores the gap separating early conceptions of cinéma vérité from the ones which circulated in the wake of Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin’s ground-breaking film Chronique d’un été/Chronicle of a Summer (1961). Initially, the author returns to Morin’s understanding of the phrase, which appears in his writing towards the end of the 1950s. He then examines how the ideas and practices Chronique introduced were codified in three conventional productions from the following decade: Jacques Baratier’s musical comedy Dragées au poivre/Sweet and Sour (1963), John Schlesinger’s Darling (1965) and Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Grand Escroc (1963). While Rouch and Morin’s innovations shaped the look of documentary and fiction within the French context, divergent understandings of cinéma vérité also infiltrated the narratives of commercial films at the time, and the term became a recognisable theme in its own right almost immediately. The author argues that Baratier’s, Schlesinger’s and Godard’s successive representations of this new style register fundamental changes that were taking place in French cinema, changes concerning the nature of the moving image and its purpose in society.

BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS AND PATERNALISM

Abstract:Contemporary behavioural economics has documented common failures of reasoning that apparently make possible policies that benefit individuals by contravening or correcting their judgements. These policies appear to be paternalistic, even though a traditional view would deny that they are paternalistic on the grounds that policies such as nudges do not restrict individual liberty. It appears to many that a new definition of paternalism that takes its cue from behavioural economics is needed. Furthermore, if one revises the definition of paternalism, one must revisit traditional views concerning whether paternalist policies are wise. In Government Paternalism, Julian Le Grand and Bill New make a valuable start, although some corrections are needed. This essay provides a general setting for revising the definition of paternalism and suggests a revised definition of paternalism.

Philosophies cartésiennes à l'usage des étrangers: les traductions latines du Traité de physique de Rohault et de la Recherche de la vérité de Malebranche

Cartesianisms for foreigners: the Latin translations of Rohault’s Traite de Physique and Malebranche’s Recherche de la verite. Few philosophical texts of the early modern period were translated into Latin. However, in the 17th century, we find multiple Latin translations of contemporary philosophical works, such as the Traite de physique by Jacques Rohault and De la Recherche de la verite by Nicolas Malebranche. The Latin translations of these texts inspired by Descartes’s philosophy were both published at the end of the century, respectively in 1674 and 1685, by two Genevan printers. The Treatise of Rohault was then retranslated into Latin twice, first by Antoine Le Grand (1682) and then by Samuel Clarke (1697), whereas the translation of the Recherche by Jacques Lenfant inspired a new (anonymous) adaptation in the middle of the 18th century (1753). The article examines the first Latin translations of Rohault’s and Malebranche’s works and compares them with the subsequent versions in order to grasp the characteristics of Latin translation of philosophical texts, namely works of Cartesian inspiration. The analysis of these translations allows to define a kind of paradigm for the translation of Cartesian texts, suggested (not only implicitly but also explicitly) by the translators themselves.

Design of optical system for binocular fundus camera

A non-mydriasis optical system for binocular fundus camera has been designed in this paper. It can capture two images of the same fundus retinal region from different angles at the same time, and can be used to achieve three-dimensional reconstruction of fundus. It is composed of imaging system and illumination system. In imaging system, Gullstrand Le Grand eye model is used to simulate normal human eye, and Schematic eye model is used to test the influence of ametropia in human eye on imaging quality. Annular aperture and black dot board are added into illumination system, so that the illumination system can eliminate stray light produced by corneal-reflected light and omentoscopic lens. Simulation results show that MTF of each visual field at the cut-off frequency of 90lp/mm is greater than 0.2, system distortion value is −2.7%, field curvature is less than 0.1 mm, radius of Airy disc is 3.25um. This system has a strong ability of chromatic aberration correction and focusing, and can image clearly for human fundus in which the range of diopters is from −10 D to +6 D(1 D = 1 m−1).

Trésors enluminés de Normandie: une (re)découverte. Sous la direction de Nicolas Hatot et Marie Jacob.

This catalogue accompanies an exhibition that was held in Rouen (December 2016 – March 2017) and is part of a larger long-term project co-ordinated by the Institut national d’histoire de l’art: Corpus des manuscrits enluminés du Moyen Âge et de la Renaissance conservés en France. Three earlier catalogues were published in 2013, accompanying regional exhibitions held in Lille, Toulouse, and Angers. As well as covering a new region — Normandy — the special focus of this volume is the history of medievalism. Indeed, Normandy was one of the foremost French regions where medieval art was rediscovered and revalorized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Dozens of lesser-known manuscripts (some of these are cuttings, but the majority are full codices) — mainly from museum collections in Caen, Fécamp, Rouen, and other Norman towns — have received careful descriptions by a team of more than thirty scholars. Many of these manuscripts were bequests to these museums by Norman collectors, such as Charles Deshommets de Martainville, Charles Lormier, Alexandre Le Grand, or Édouard Le Corbeiller. The origin of these manuscripts and cuttings (as well as some early illuminated printed books) is, however, multifarious, since they were made in France, Italy, and the Low Countries. There is a special focus on brothers Eugène and Auguste Dutuit who, much to the disappointment of the city of Rouen, bequeathed their collection of twenty thousand artworks to the city of Paris. An essay by José de Los Llanos and Cécile Champs-Vinas traces the history of this collection. The twenty descriptions of manuscripts that belonged to it form a special core in the catalogue, among which are an early fourteenth-century Grand Coutumier de Normandie and a Flemish copy of Jean Wauquelin’s Histoire d’Alexandre commissioned by the Duke of Burgundy in the 1460s. An essay by Nicolas Hatot is dedicated to the French scholar Léopold Delisle; as head of the Bibliothèque nationale from 1874 to 1905, his contribution to the rediscovery of manuscripts was of a different kind: rather than being a collector himself, he acquired numerous important manuscripts for the nation. But the focus on this scholar is also the occasion to draw attention to modern artistic objects inspired by medieval manuscript illumination. Indeed, among the objects described in the catalogue are a series of nineteenth- and twentieth-century facsimiles, either handmade or reproduced by means of lithography, and other medievalist derivatives. The overall choice of subjects and objects of this catalogue is rather eclectic, but the result is an interesting volume, on the one hand highlighting relatively unknown manuscripts and their illumination and provenance, and on the other the history of medievalism in Normandy. It is particularly the latter that makes the volume a welcome contribution to this emerging field, which, thus far, has garnered more interest in Anglo-Saxon scholarship than in France. The index of shelfmarks is very useful; an index of (former) owners is unfortunately lacking. The Presses universitaires de Rennes have done a superb job on the design and the finishing of the volume.

Inventing Grand Paris: metropolitan planning history and its valorization

ABSTRACTPlanning of the Paris Region has a long history that began a century ago in conjunction with the global development of metropolitan planning policies. In 2013, a group of scholars working on the planning history of the Paris Region launched a series of four two-day annual international conferences entitled ‘Inventer le Grand Paris/Inventing Grand Paris’, which were held each December from 2013 to 2016. These conferences sought to expand the knowledge about the planning history of the Paris Region as well as to develop international comparative studies. This initiative was a reaction to the lack of historical depth in the discourse of the main actors of the Grand Paris planning process. It also sought to assemble for the first time and complete the historical research on the overall planning of the greater region, connecting it with research on other metropolitan planning histories. Beyond the conferences, a new website opened in June 2017 giving access to the proceedings but also providing a platform for sharing new historical material and research on this subject.

Abstract 4210: Screening of kinase focused libraries for the identification of Greatwall inhibitors

Abstract MASTL (microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase-like), commonly known as Greatwall (GWL), is a member of the AGC kinase family and has recently emerged as a novel cancer therapy target. GWL regulates mitotic division via phosphorylation of its known substrates ENSA and ARPP19, which upon phosphorylation act as inhibitors of the PP2A-B55δ phosphatase. Inactivation of PP2A-B55δ induces sustained activity of the CDK1-cyclin B complex, triggering mitotic entry and preventing mitotic collapse during cell division. Towards the end of mitosis, GWL inactivation is required to initiate mitotic exit. Overexpression of GWL in breast cancer cells drives oncogenic properties, such as transformation and invasions. In particular, triple negative breast cancer tumors, which are associated with a poor prognosis, overexpress GWL and are highly sensitive to GWL depletion. In addition, GWL expression has been found to be elevated in oral squamous cell carcinoma and prostate cancer tissues. A number of studies have also indicated that GWL may contribute directly to tumorigenesis, suggesting that modulation of GWL activity with small-molecule inhibitors could afford a potential new anti-cancer therapy. The precise role of GWL in cells remaining largely unexplored, the identification of a pharmacological tool would be useful to further assess the tumor-associated functions of this protein. To that end, we have recently developed and optimized a robust HTRF assay, based on a specific ENSA peptide analogue, and used it to screen kinase focused libraries, made available to us by GlaxoSmithKline and Roche. A 10.2% hit rate was achieved from the screening of the 11,000 compound set at a single concentration of 10 µM. Molecules inducing over 50% inhibition in the single point screen were subsequently tested in concentration-dependent experiments. Analysis of the IC50 generated enabled to identify molecular clusters and potential hits to initiate a medicinal chemistry campaign. A review of the literature on the selectivity of the hits identified indicated that a significant number of these molecules also had affinity for other AGC kinases and that selectivity among the AGC kinase family could be challenging to achieve. Computational studies using an in-house co-crystal structure of GWL in complex with Staurosporine and the published crystal structures of other AGC kinases will be used to design out selectivity and guide the design of inhibitors to obtain a potent chemical probe. Citation Format: Tristan D. Reuillon, Sarah Walker, Darren Le Grand, Simon E. Ward, Ben Wahab, Mohan B. Rajasekaran, Helfrid Hochegger, Antony W. Oliver. Screening of kinase focused libraries for the identification of Greatwall inhibitors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4210. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4210

Islam in the Digital Films Expose the Good Sides of Muslims

Film studies mostly show Islam in negative representation. From streaming film website, we can easily find many films that show Muslims stories. For example, Children of Heaven, Le Grand Voyage, My Name is Khan, etc. Those films do not seem to show Muslims as terrorist. They show Muslims life in various cultures and stories. The problem is what good sides of Muslims in the films can counter the negative stereotypes of Muslims in Hollywood images. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this research exposes the good sides of Muslims in films. There is an Islamic world view in Children of Heaven. Some things may seem bad but then turn out to be good in the long run. My Name is Khan has a very important message about Islam. That is Islam is a peace and love religion. Le Grand Voyage shows a signification generation gap of Muslims. They are secular and devout Muslims. But they can communicate moderately.

Differences in retinal shape between East Asian and Caucasian eyes.

To investigate whether retinal shape is different between East Asians and Caucasians. There were 36 East Asian and 40 Caucasian young adults, with refractions between +0.75D and -5.50D. Peripheral eye lengths were obtained after pupil dilation using the Lenstar partial coherence interferometer. Measurements were obtained along the horizontal and vertical meridians of the visual field out to ±35° and ±30°, respectively, in 5° steps. Retinal co-ordinates were estimated using a validated method from the peripheral eye length measurements and ray-tracing through a modified Le Grand full theoretical eye. Rays were directed normally towards the anterior cornea. Retinal shapes were described in terms of vertex radius of curvature (Rv ), asphericity (Q) and equivalent radius of curvature (REq ) along both horizontal and vertical meridians. Rv was smaller in East Asian than in Caucasians (mean difference ± 95% CI -0.7 ± 0.5 mm), along the horizontal meridian than the vertical meridian (-1.2 ± 0.6 mm), and in myopia than in emmetropia (-1.0 ± 0.6 mm). Rv along the horizontal meridian, but not along the vertical meridian, became smaller as myopia increased. Q did not vary significantly with meridian, refraction group or race. The same pattern of results occurred for REq as for Rv . The percentage differences of heights under the estimated retinal surfaces showed steeper retinas in East Asians than in Caucasians; the differences between East Asian and Caucasian emmetropes were 2.5% and <1% along horizontal and vertical meridians, respectively, and corresponding differences for myopes were 4.6% and 1.8%. East Asians had steeper retinas than Caucasians. The horizontal meridian had steeper retinas than the vertical meridian. Myopes had steeper retinas than emmetropes. Racial differences in retinal shape in both emmetropes and myopes, combined with the high prevalence of myopia in East Asia, suggest that retinal shape may play a role in myopia development.