bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Activities ofdl-α-Difluoromethylarginine and Polyamine Analogues againstCryptosporidium parvumInfection in a T-Cell Receptor Alpha-Deficient Mouse Model
Authors: Yarlett Nigel , Waters W. Ray , Harp James A. , Wannemuehler Michael J. , Morada Mary , Bellcastro Josephine , Upton Steve J. , Marton Laurence J. , Frydman Benjamin J.
Published: January 2007

The in vivo effectiveness of a series of conformationally restricted polyamine analogues alone and selected members in combination withdl-α-difluoromethylarginine againstCryptosporidium parvuminfection in a T-cell receptor alpha-deficient mouse model was tested. Polyamine analogues were selected from the extended bis(ethyl)-sym-homospermidine or bis(ethyl)-spermine backbone havingcisortransdouble bonds at the center of the molecule. Thecisisomers were found to have significantly greater efficacy in both preventing and curing infection in a mouse model than thetranspolyamine analogues when tested in a T-cell receptor alpha-deficient mouse model. When tested in combination withdl-α-difluoromethylarginine, thecis-restricted analogues were found to be more effective in preventing oocyst shedding. This study demonstrates the potential of polyamine analogues as anticryptosporidial agents and highlights the presence of multiple points in polyamine synthesis by this parasite that are susceptible to inhibition resulting in growth inhibition.
Infection withToxoplasma gondiiBradyzoites Has a Diminished Impact on Host Transcript Levels Relative to Tachyzoite Infection
Authors: Fouts A. E. , Boothroyd J. C.
Published: January 2007

Toxoplasma gondii, an intracellular pathogen, has the potential to infect nearly every warm-blooded animal but rarely causes morbidity. The ability for the parasite to convert to the bradyzoite stage and live inside slow-growing cysts that can go unnoticed by the host immune system allows for parasite persistence for the life of the infected host. This intracellular survival likely necessitates host cell modulation, and tachyzoites are known to modify a number of signaling cascades within the host to promote parasite survival. Little is known, however, about how bradyzoites manipulate their host cell. Microarrays were used to profile the host transcriptional changes caused by bradyzoite infection and compared to those of tachyzoite-infected and uninfected hosts cells 2 days postinfection in vitro. Infection resulted in chemokine, cytokine, extracellular matrix, and growth factor transcript level changes. A small group of genes were specifically induced by tachyzoite infection, including granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, BCL2-related protein A1, and interleukin-24. Bradyzoite infection yielded only about half the changes seen with tachyzoite infection, and those changes that did occur were almost all of lower magnitude than those induced by tachyzoites. These results suggest that bradyzoites lead a more stealthy existence within the infected host cell.
An Increase in Epithelial Cell Apoptosis Is Associated with Chronic Intestinal Nematode Infection
Authors: Cliffe Laura J. , Potten Christopher S. , Booth Catherine E. , Grencis Richard K.
Published: January 2007

It is well established that homeostasis of the intestinal epithelium becomes dysregulated during gastrointestinal helminth infection and is under immune control. An increase in both enterocyte proliferation and the subsequent generation of crypt hyperplasia are hallmarks of chronic infection withTrichuris muris, a large intestinal dwelling nematode. The effect of this parasitic infection on apoptosis induction in the large intestine and its regulation has been neglected. To address this, mice of resistant and susceptible phenotypes were infected with different doses ofT. muris, and the levels of epithelial cell apoptosis were determined. It is clear that apoptosis is induced during chronicT. murisinfection. This occurs mainly at the base of the cecal crypt, within the stem cell region. The level of apoptosis induced is independent of worm number, suggesting that it is not a consequence of worm-induced damage but rather a mechanism for controlling cell number within the crypt. Neutralization of both gamma interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha caused a significant reduction in the levels of apoptosis, showing that proinflammatory cytokines generated in response to chronic infection play an important role in apoptosis induction in this system. It is proposed that the generation of proinflammatory cytokines during chronicT. murisinfection may play a positive role, by promoting intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis, to counter infection-induced epithelial hyperplasia.
Pertussis Toxin Targets Airway Macrophages To PromoteBordetella pertussisInfection of the Respiratory Tract
Authors: Carbonetti Nicholas H. , Artamonova Galina V. , Van Rooijen Nico , Ayala Victor I.
Published: January 2007

Pertussis toxin (PT), a secreted virulence factor ofBordetella pertussis, ADP ribosylates mammalian Giproteins and plays an important early role in respiratory tract infection by this pathogen in a mouse intranasal infection model. To test the hypothesis that PT targets resident airway macrophages (AM) to promote this infection, we depleted AM by intranasal administration of liposome-encapsulated clodronate prior to bacterial inoculation. This treatment enhanced respiratory tract infection byB. pertussis, even though it also induced a rapid influx of neutrophils to the airways. Strikingly, AM depletion also enhanced infection by mutant strains deficient in PT production or activity to the same level as the wild-type infection, indicating that AM may be the primary target cells for PT in promoting infection. The enhancing effect of clodronate-liposome treatment on infection (i) was shown to be due to macrophage depletion rather than neutrophil influx; (ii) was observed for both tracheal infection and lung infection; (iii) was observed during the early and peak phases of the infection but was lost by day 14 postinoculation, during clearance of the infection; (iv) persisted for at least 1 week (prior to bacterial inoculation); and (v) was equivalent in magnitude to the effect of PT pretreatment and the effects were not additive, consistent with the idea that PT targets AM. We found that PT efficiently ADP ribosylated AM G proteins both in vitro and after intranasal administration of PT in mice and that the duration of G protein modification in vivo was equivalent to the duration of the enhancing effect of PT treatment on the bacterial infection. Collectively, these observations indicate that PT targets AM to promote early infection of the respiratory tract byB. pertussis.
Mouse Model of Oral Infection with Virulent Type A
Francisella tularensis
Authors: KuoLee R. , Zhao X. , Austin J. , Harris G. , Conlan J. W. , Chen W.
Published: January 2007

Francisella tularensis
is a gram-negative facultative intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of tularemia. Little is known about the immunopathogenesis of oral infection with this pathogen. Here, for the first time, we examined the susceptibility of mice to intragastric inoculation with virulent type A
F. tularensis
and characterized the course of infection and the associated host responses. Both immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice were relatively susceptible to intragastric inoculation of type A
F. tularensis
with a 50% lethal dose (LD
50
) of 10
6
organisms, which was 100,000-fold higher than the LD
100
for intradermal or respiratory routes of infection. Mice deficient in gamma interferon or tumor necrosis factor receptors 1 and 2 were more susceptible than wild-type controls to oral infection with a high dose of the pathogen. After oral inoculation,
F. tularensis
appeared first in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and then rapidly spread to the livers and spleens, where the organism multiplied to high numbers and induced marked neutrophilic infiltration and severe tissue necrosis. Infected mice showed rapid increases in tissue cytokine mRNA expression, which peaked in the MLN at 2 days postinfection (dpi) and in the liver and spleen at 3 dpi. The levels of gamma interferon, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α, KC, interferon-inducible protein 10, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 were elevated from day 2 postinoculation onward. Moreover, mice intradermally immunized with the live vaccine strain of
F. tularensis
showed little survival advantage over naive mice after oral challenge with type A
F. tularensis
. These results suggest that type A
F. tularensis
is an effective oral pathogen that can cause fatal systemic infection and could pose a public health concern, particularly to immunocompromised individuals, if ingested in contaminated water and food.
DYNAMICAL DISPERSION IN THE FAST-PARTICLE EMISSION AFTER PERIPHERAL HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS
Authors: ITALIANO A. , STRAZZERI A.
Published: January 2007

The closed-form theoretical model, already employed to successfully describe in a single picture, the nonequilibrium component and the evaporation component of the angular correlation between particles and reaction residues emitted in a peripheral heavy-ion collision, is here revisited. This revised approach, applied to the C-α differential multiplicities for the 16O+58Ni at 6 MeV/A and 16O+48Ti at 8.3 MeV/A deep inelastic collisions, allows to explain more in detail the reaction mechanism of such processes.
Modeling the Exposure‐Response Relationship of Etanercept in the Treatment of Patients With Chronic Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis
Authors: Hutmacher Matthew M. , Nestorov Ivan , Ludden Tom , Zitnik Ralph , Banfield Christopher
Published: January 2007

Modeling exposure‐response relationships adds significant value to comprehending and interpreting both efficacy and safety data. An exposure‐response model was developed using generalized nonlinear mixed‐effects methodologies to correlate etanercept exposure with a 75% or greater reduction from baseline in the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI75). Three randomized trials of psoriasis patients were pooled for analysis. Three empirical exposure measures—cumulative dose, predicted cumulative area under the curve, and predicted trough concentration—were evaluated for their predictive capabilities. The predicted cumulative area under the curve model demonstrated the best ability via simulation to reproduce the data and was used to assess the following covariates: age, baseline psoriasis area and severity index, duration of psoriasis disease, prior systemic or phototherapy, race, sex, and weight. The final model was composed by scrutinizing the confidence intervals of a nonparametric bootstrap and included race and sex effects on baseline logit, baseline psoriasis area and severity index and prior systemic or phototherapy effects on maximum drug effect, a weight effect on apparent potency, and an age effect on the rate of drug effect. The model identified covariates predictive of data trends and adequately characterized by simulation the PASI75 over the entire clinical trial design space. In combination with a statistical subgroup analysis, the exposure‐response model indicated that dose adjustment was not necessary for etanercept in any patient subpopulation with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
PhyloScan: identification of transcription factor binding sites using cross-species evidence
Authors: Carmack C Steven , McCue Lee Ann , Newberg Lee A , Lawrence Charles E
Published: January 2007

Background

When transcription factor binding sites are known for a particular transcription factor, it is possible to construct a motif model that can be used to scan sequences for additional sites. However, few statistically significant sites are revealed when a transcription factor binding site motif model is used to scan a genome-scale database.

Methods

We have developed a scanning algorithm, PhyloScan, which combines evidence from matching sites found in orthologous data from several related species with evidence from multiple sites within an intergenic region, to better detect regulons. The orthologous sequence data may be multiply aligned, unaligned, or a combination of aligned and unaligned. In aligned data, PhyloScan statistically accounts for the phylogenetic dependence of the species contributing data to the alignment and, in unaligned data, the evidence for sites is combined assuming phylogenetic independence of the species. The statistical significance of the gene predictions is calculated directly, without employing training sets.

Results

In a test of our methodology on synthetic data modeled on seven Enterobacteriales, four Vibrionales, and three Pasteurellales species, PhyloScan produces better sensitivity and specificity than MONKEY, an advanced scanning approach that also searches a genome for transcription factor binding sites using phylogenetic information. The application of the algorithm to real sequence data from seven Enterobacteriales species identifies novel Crp and PurR transcription factor binding sites, thus providing several new potential sites for these transcription factors. These sites enable targeted experimental validation and thus further delineation of the Crp and PurR regulons in E. coli.

Conclusion

Better sensitivity and specificity can be achieved through a combination of (1) using mixed alignable and non-alignable sequence data and (2) combining evidence from multiple sites within an intergenic region.
Vitamin D pathway gene polymorphisms, diet, and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer: a nested case-control study
Authors: McCullough Marjorie L , Stevens Victoria L , Diver William R , Feigelson Heather S , Rodriguez Carmen , Bostick Robin M , Thun Michael J , Calle Eugenia E
Published: January 2007

Introduction

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms have been inconsistently associated with breast cancer risk. Whether risk is influenced by polymorphisms in other vitamin D metabolism genes and whether calcium or vitamin D intake modifies risk by genotype have not been evaluated.

Methods

We conducted a nested case-control study within the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort of associations between breast cancer and four VDR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), Bsm1,Apa1,Taq1, and Fok1, a poly(A) microsatellite, and associated haplotypes (baTL and BAtS). We also examined one SNP in the 24-hydroxylase gene (CYP24A1) and two in the vitamin D-binding protein (group-specific component [GC]) gene. Participants completed a questionnaire on diet and medical history at baseline in 1992. This study includes 500 postmenopausal breast cancer cases and 500 controls matched by age, race/ethnicity, and date of blood collection.

Results

Incident breast cancer was not associated with any genotype examined. However, women with the Bsm1 bb SNP who consumed greater than the median intake of total calcium (≥902 mg/day) had lower odds of breast cancer compared to women with the Bb or BB genotype and less than the median calcium intake (odds ratio 0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.38 to 0.96; pinteraction = 0.01). Similar interactions were observed for Taq1 (T allele) and the poly(A) (LL) repeat.

Conclusion

We found no overall association between selected vitamin D pathway genes and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. However, certain VDR gene polymorphisms were associated with lower risk in women consuming high levels of calcium, suggesting that dietary factors may modify associations by VDR genotype.
Changes in the expression of gallinacins, antimicrobial peptides, in ovarian follicles during follicular growth and in response to lipopolysaccharide in laying hens (Gallus domesticus)
Authors: Subedi Kalpana , Isobe Naoki , Nishibori Masahide , Yoshimura Yukinori
Published: January 2007

The aim of this study was to identify the types of gallinacin genes (GALs) expressed in ovarian follicles and to determine the changes in their expression during follicular growth and in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Follicles at different stages of growth were collected from laying hens (n = 5) and LPS-injected hens (n = 3). The expression of GALs in the theca and granulosa layers was examined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of GAL-1, -2, -7, -8, -10, and -12 in the theca layer and GAL-1, - 8, -10, and -12 in the granulosa layer was identified in white and yellow follicles. The expression of these genes was not changed in the theca and granulosa layers during follicular growth except for a decrease in that of GAL-1 in theca. The expression of GAL-1, -7, and -12 in the theca layer of the third largest follicles was increased in response to LPS at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight and this increase was induced within 3 h and maintained until 12h postinjection. Granulosa layers did not respond to LPS until 12h injection. These results show that six and four types of GALs are expressed in the theca and granulosa layers of healthy follicles respectively, and their levels do not change with follicular growth except for GAL-1 in theca. Elevated levels of GAL-1, -7, and -12 expression in theca in response to LPS suggest that the theca cells expressing these GALs function to eliminate LPS-containing bacteria.
Post-earthquake behaviour of footings employing densification to mitigate liquefaction
Authors: Coelho P. A. L. F. , Haigh S. K. , Gopal Madabhushi S. P. , O'brien T. S.
Published: January 2007

In situ densification is a popular technique to protect shallow foundations from the effects of earthquakeinduced liquefaction, current design being based on semiempirical rules. Poor understanding of the mechanisms governing the performance of soil—structure systems during and after earthquakes inhibits the use of narrow densified zones, which could contribute to optimise the use of densification if the increase in post-earthquake settlement is restrained. Therefore this paper investigates the long-term behaviour of a footing built on densified ground and surrounded by liquefiable ground, centrifuge experiments being used to identify the mechanisms occurring in the ground during and after a seismic simulation. The differential excess pore pressure generated in the ground during the shaking and the processes of vertical stress concentration and subsequent redistribution observed under the footing dominate the system behaviour. The results enlighten the complex mechanisms determining the post-earthquake settlement when densification is carried out to mitigate liquefaction effects. The improvement in performance resulting from widening the zone of densification is rationally explained which encourages the development of new design concepts that may enhance the future use of densification as a liquefaction resistance measure.

La densification in situ est une technique courante pour protéger les fondations peu profondes contre les effets de liquéfaction due aux tremblements de terre, les structures actuelles étant basées sur des lois semi-empiriques. La compréhension limitée des mécanismes gouvernant les performances des systèmes sol-structure pendant et après les tremblements de terre empêche l'utilisation de zones densifiées étroites, qui pourrait contribuer à optimiser l'exploitation de la densification si l'augmentation en tassement après tremblement de terre est restreinte. Cet article étudie pour cette raison le comportement à long terme d'un bâti de semelle sur un sol densifié et entouré de sol liquéfiable. Des expériences en centrifugeuse sont réalisées pour déterminer les mécanismes mis en jeu dans le sol pendant et après une simulation de séisme. L'excédent de pression interstitielle différentiel généré dans le sol pendant les vibrations et les processus de concentration de contrainte verticale et de redistribution subséquente observés sous la semelle dominent le comportement du système. Ces résultats soulignent la complexité des mécanismes qui régissent le tassement du sol après un tremblement de terre lorsque la densification est utilisée pour atténuer les effets de liquéfaction. L'amélioration des performances résultant de l'élargissement de la zone de densification s'explique de manière rationnelle, ce qui encourage le développement de nouveaux concepts de structures qui peuvent étendre à l'avenir l'utilisation de la densification comme moyen de résistance à la liquéfaction.
Genetic Analysis of Triticum compactum L. var. amplissifolium Zhuk. Producing Curved Grain
Authors: Tomar S. M. S. , Menon M. K. , Vinod  , Sivasamy M. , Singh B.
Published: January 2007

The hexaploid wheat species Triticum aestivum L. ssp compactum var. amplissifolium Zhuk. produces small plump but curved or boat shaped kernels with low thousand kernel weight. The grain number per unit spike length is high. The trait curved grain seems to be rare. The genetic analysis in F2 (T. aestivum cv. NI5439 × T. amplissifolium), BC1 (F1 × NI5439) and F3 generations revealed that the curved grain is governed by a single dominant gene. The gene symbol Cvg is proposed for this trait. The curved nature of the grain could serve as a useful morphological marker. The characters short spike and kernel color are also controlled by a single but independent gene. The number of grains per unit spike length and 1000 kernel weight are presumably governed by more than one gene and both the traits showed some association with the character short spike. The linkage analysis indicated that the character curved grain is linked with short spike length and the distance between these characters is 7.63 Kosambi unit.
Identification of Field Tolerance to Bean Pod Mottle and Soybean Mosaic Viruses in Soybean
Authors: Hill J. H. , Koval N. C. , Gaska J. M. , Grau C. R.
Published: January 2007

Development of a method to identify field tolerance to bean pod mottle and soybean mosaic viruses (BPMV and SMV) in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] allowed evaluation of 33 soybean accessions for field response to BPMV and SMV. Based on measurement of parameters that included relative level of virus antigen in seed and mottling of soybean seed coats, three accessions showed tolerance to SMV and BPMV (PI 561353, M90‐18411, PI 507353), eight were tolerant to SMV (MN 1301, M92‐160047, M91‐113037, PI 423826A, A99‐216031, NE 3001, U96‐2408, Colfax), and four were tolerant to BPMV (PI 184042, M93‐326056, M95‐255017, Spansoy 201). Treatment of seed with the insecticide imidacloprid (1‐[(6‐chloro‐3‐pyridinyl)methyl]‐N‐nitro‐2‐imidazolidinimine) did not effect disease control. The relative level of virus antigen in seed harvested from experimental plots was shown to correlate significantly with virus incidence in plots. The data suggest that quantitative assay of virus seed antigen may provide a useful estimate of relative virus incidence in test plots and aid identification of field tolerance to seed‐borne viruses.
QTL Analysis of ICA Bunsi‐Derived Resistance to White Mold in a Pinto × Navy Bean Cross
Authors: Miklas Phillip N. , Larsen Karen M. , Terpstra Karolyn A. , Hauf Darrin C. , Grafton Kenneth F. , Kelly James D.
Published: January 2007

Breeding for genetic resistance to white mold [Sclerotinia sclerotiorum(Lib.) de Bary] in dry bean (Phaseolus vulgarisL.) is difficult because of low heritability. To facilitate breeding, researchers have sought to identify QTL underpinning genetic resistance to white mold. We identified two QTL conditioning ICA Bunsi‐derived resistance to white mold in a pinto × navy bean (Aztec/ND88–106–04) recombinant inbred line (85 RILs) population. ND88–106–04 is a navy breeding line with resistance to white mold derived from ICA Bunsi navy. Aztec pinto is susceptible. The QTL were located to linkage groups B2 and B3 of the core map. The B2 QTL expressed in three of four field environments explaining 24.7, 9.0, and 8.7% of the phenotypic variation for disease severity score. The B3 QTL expressed in two of four environments, explaining 15.7 and 5.3% of the phenotypic variation. The B2 QTL was identified previously in ICA Bunsi × navy and ICA Bunsi × black bean RIL populations. The resistance conferred by the B2 QTL has a physiological basis due to association with stay green stem trait and lack of association with disease avoidance traits. The B3 QTL, undetected in previous studies, was associated with disease avoidance traits (canopy porosity, plant height), stay green stem trait, and maturity. The B2 QTL with stable expression in multiple environments and across genetic backgrounds will be most amenable to manipulation by breeders.
The Factor of Design
Authors: Gorelik Mordecai
Published: January 2007

When we were putting on Arthur Miller's All My Sons in New Haven and I was talking with Arthur about the function of scene design, he said, “Don't talk to me about stage form, scene design and all that. What matters in the theatre is character and situation.” I was about to say something in answer when a friend of Arthur's who was present warned me, “Arthur is tense about the show.” So of course I dropped the subject. Afterwards I went to Europe, where I spent three years doing research for the Rockefeller Foundation. When I came back I saw Miller at his home. In the meantime I had read the introduction which he wrote for Death of a Salesman, in which he stated how much he owed to Jo Mielziner, who had designed that play: if it wasn't for Jo's contribution scenically the play wouldn't have taken die form that it did, and so on, very laudatory.
The Factor of Direction
Authors: Selden Samuel
Published: January 2007

The art of Theatre is an art of change. It is changing continuously. It changes in matters pertaining to substance and to form. It changes in structure. For example, take that element of theatrical art which is the work of the “director.”

Today when we hear that a new Tennessee Williams play will be staged by Elia Kazan, a Shakespearean work produced by Tyrone Guthrie, or a musical extravaganza “put on” by Joshua Logan, we are not surprised by the news at all. It seems to us to be quite natural that a dramatic enterprise should be guided by a man who is trained for its preparation. The fact is, however, that the emergence of the director as a separate and distinct craftsman in the theatre is a comparatively recent event. There have always been general administrators, of course. In the early years they were priests or lay members of the community assigned to the actors as producers.
Ford, Rockefeller, And Theatre
Authors: Schechner Richard
Published: January 2007

—And we?—I beg your pardon?—Where do we come in?—Come in? On our hands and knees.Samuel Beckett, playwright

If a painting after all means more than an object for economic speculation, what does it mean?

W. McNeil Lowry, vice-president, Ford Foundation

According to statistics published in the New York Times and Fortune, more than $3 billion was spent last year on “everything from Bach and the Beatles to Shakespeare, Shaw, the opera … Peter, Paul, and Mary … Monet and Melville.” Consumer spending in the arts jumped 130% between 1953 and 1960—about “twice as fast as spending on all recreation and better than six times as fast as outlays for spectator sports.”
The Regional Theatre: Some Statistics
Authors: Schmidt Sandra
Published: January 2007

The information contained in the following tables is only the rawest of raw material, to be approached with awesome cautiousness. They are by no means comparisons of theatres, since often the same figure will mean different things to different theatres. Salaries, for example, in one instance may include the pittance paid to non-Equity extras, in another there may be no non-Equity to pay. Foundation grants may throw box-office percentages off. A proper sorting job would have required a particularly active computor—and it is being done by the 20th Century Fund for publication next year.

The figures have been gathered bit by bit from all over. In every case they have been checked with the director or business manager of the theatre involved, but only with imagination, intuition, and a certain amount of brashness can they be interpreted.
The Beginnings of Decline
Authors: Poggi Jack
Published: January 2007

It is commonly assumed by those who discuss the theatre's present economic difficulties that there were no serious problems before 1929, when the talkies and the stock market crash brought prosperity to a sudden halt.

Actually, activity on the road began to drop sharply about 1910 and in the mid-twenties reached a point not far above the present level. Though the fact is sometimes acknowledged, the decline of the road is rarely seen in relation to the later decline on Broadway. I suggest that we ask whether both might have been brought about by the same causes.

The question has not been asked because it appears to us in retrospect that the economy of Broadway was sound in the years when the road was declining.
Household Hints: The Rockefeller Report
Authors: Mee Charles L.
Published: January 2007

The report of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Inc., published as The Performing Arts: Problems and Prospects (McGraw-Hill, 1965), is the product of two years’ labor by a committee. The report's porridge-like prose shows that each member of the committee exercised some editorial judgment. Yet the document is distinguished for its effort to reach beyond diagnosis toward some prescriptions.

The assessment of the theatre's current economic situation offered by the report is predictable: “ … no one expects Broadway to collapse. … But Broadway as we knew it … is being challenged, its audiences are turning elsewhere.” According to the Rockefeller report, the theatre's future lies outside New York, with non-profit professional groups. The report further concludes that “the non-profit performing arts should not be expected to pay their way at the box-office.”
Molière and Farce
Authors: Lanson Gustave
Published: January 2007

In this issue TDR celebrates Molière the farceur. Lest we seem in this to be claiming credit for original insight, we are also printing the essay which “started the trend“—that is, the trend away from the nineteenth-century view of Molière as a writer of drames and towards a view which recognizes the key role of farce even in Molière's most serious plays. This is Gustave Lanson's essay “Molière et la farce,” which first appeared in the Revue de Paris in May, 1901. Lanson also helps us to distinguish farce from the comic tradition generally, and particularly from the tradition of Roman comedy. Molière was most decisively influenced, not by literature in the tradition of Rome, but by theatre in the tradition of France.
Does the Italian Theatre Exist?
Authors: Codignola Luciano
Published: January 2007

It is not an easy job to write about something which may not exist. Theatre? Does it still exist? And Italian theatre? Has it ever existed? Many people doubt it. Italian opera existed once, but what about Italian comedy and Italian drama? As far as I know, people have always spoken of them as being in crisis.

At times I try to find comfort in the thought that when something is in crisis, it probably exists. If I remember correctly, St. Anselm tried to prove the existence of God with a rather similar demonstration—but he succeeded only in proving that men desire God. So we might say that Italian theatre has been living for many centuries in mente italicorum, which does not mean that it has found its own reality in a living body of images, characters, stories, and styles. When we talk about it with foreigners, the conversation slides immediately to commedia dell'arte, to opera, and to neo-realistic movies.
Reading De Filippo
Authors: Codignola Luciano
Published: January 2007

Eduardo De Filippo bewilders the critics. His comedies raise a number of problems which are not easily disentangled: the relation between the playwright he has become and the actor he has always been; his language, which is neither standard nor dialect; his link to the tradition of the commedia dell'arte; his relation to pirandellismo, surrealism, and neo-realism; the nature of his comedy and the quality of his morality; the burden and function of his Neapolitan settings. One could even ask whether there is a line of development in his work: how can we explain that a true masterpiece like Christmas in the Cupiello Home came fifteen years before the series of plays that fulfilled its promise: Naples’ Millionaires, Oh, These Ghosts!, Filumena, The Voices from Within, My Beloved and My Heart. And finally, what role did World War II play in De Filippo's development?
Method in Mime
Authors: Davis R. G.
Published: January 2007

The American stage has been called style-less. It has been criticized for not maturing realism but being trapped by it. And, of course, the blame has been laid at method's door. This is unfair. We can just as well blame our “cool” society for its inhibited, self-conscious exhibitionism. Method incorporates style, and sincere and creative use employs it richly. In movement this is precisely mime's concern.

If every actor could perform as a total performer, executing illusions that could create place, time and properties then we could free the stage from its constipated d6cor and reaffirm the essence of theatre—a vital human performing for a live audience.
The Art of Acting: Part III. The Actor as Phenomenon
Authors: Schyberg Frederik
Published: January 2007

We have now reached the difficult point and must turn to the unpleasant truths. I regret it, but there is no other way if we want to exhaust our subject. I shall do it as painlessly as possible—without anesthesia. In the preceding chapter we followed the development of several important points in the theory of acting and reviewed the theorists’ artistic demands upon the actor. Finally, we arrive at the actor himself as a type, as a person. The length and purpose of this book do not permit us to occupy ourselves with all the great names, the celebrities, the unforgettable enchanters from the past and the present, so notable and so different. There is only room to mention isolated, selected examples out of which one—as elsewhere in the book—must represent many. It is reassuring to know that certain fundamental traits are alike and common to the majority of the great, leading scenic artists.
The Language of Endgame
Authors: Weales Gerald
Published: January 2007

The last thing that I expected when I decided to direct a production of Endgame a few months ago was that I would become more and more impressed with it. I had seen Samuel Beckett's play when it was first acted in this country, at the Cherry Lane in New York, and I had come away with no desire to dance in the streets. The play seemed much less impressive than Waiting for Godot—too simple, too simple-minded even. I had been amused occasionally, moved not at all. The philosophical implications, implicit in the title, seemed neither startling nor particularly perceptive; the assumption that this is the worst of all possible worlds seems as silly as the bromide that it is the best, a point made sensibly by the creators of Candide a few years ago when they provided that Pangloss and the pessimistic Martin be played by the same actor.
The Dilemma of the Christian Dramatist: Paul Claudel and Christopher Fry
Authors: Lutyens David Bulwer
Published: January 2007

To compare two such different writers as Christopher Fry and Paul Claudel is, in a sense, an act of presumption; but then such comparisons are, by a paradox, inherent in the very nature of criticism, at once invidious and indispensable. I say by a paradox advisedly, for there can be no criticism without the ability of making comparisons, yet since each significant work of art is unique within its own terms of reference, no comparison can be altogether convincing. All the same, the very fact that Claudel and Fry are both Christian in a non-Christian age and a non-Christian or only nominally Christian society gives one a vantagepoint from which one may be able to assess at least some of the problems that confront the dramatist with a Christian vision of man and a Christian conception of the nature of reality.
Jean Vilar: Unadorned Theatre for the Greatest Number
Authors: Bermel Albert
Published: January 2007

Once he has arrived on stage, he moves sparingly; his presence is enough to establish a vitality that other important actors strive for with nervous pacings and hand flurries and vocal hysterics and stares that hypnotize and exact tribute from the rest of the cast. It is not so much, I think, that Vilar scorns the habitual run of acting props as that he does not need them. He is of medium height, bony, black-haired and hollowcheeked, with hands that look large but are never obstructive. His voice is unusually deep and has a rasp; it is a long remove from the throatiness of Olivier and the calculated resonance of Lunt. When he speaks poetry it has the directness of prose. When he speaks prose it is punctuated with caesuras and emphases that give it the quality of verse. He is possibly the most ascetic and statuesque performer of our time.
A Play: Scenario or Poem
Authors: Sharp William L.
Published: January 2007

In an article in the Hudson Review (Autumn, 1956) entitled “Problems for the Modern Critic of Literature” Mr. Yvor Winters makes some rather startling statements about the drama. He makes some rather startling statements about a good number of other things as well, but his remarks about the dramatic form in general and Macbeth in particular ask, I think, for some kind of comment. Mr. Winters is a good critic; the issues he raises here are important issues, issues that should be considered by anyone seriously interested in the dramatic form. And though I think he is wrong, he is wrong in an important way.
Stanislavski Changes His Mind
Authors: Coger Leslie Irene
Published: January 2007

Beginning with his introspective Finnish vacation in 1906, Stanislavski spent thirty-two years developing his work through speculation and experimentation. He was not a systematic thinker, and his books do not represent the consistent development of a single set of ideas; rather they are notes outlining the evolution of his methods. Stanislavski’s work is held together by its goal: to achieve excellence and truth in theatrical production. Because of the work of the American Lab and Group theatres, Americans are most familiar with Stanislavski’s early and middle periods. An understanding of his late work—his “method of physical actions”—would complete our grasp of his contribution.
The Playwright and the Atomic World
Authors: Miller Arthur
Published: January 2007

I obviously can have no special competence in the field of foreign policy. I only know what I read in the papers and the fact that I am a creative writer does not make my opinions either wiser or more persuasive than those of any other man. But it seems to me that there might be some good purpose in one of my profession expressing himself on this kind of problem. A certain awareness of attitudes outside our borders has been forced on me over the past ten years. My plays are regularly produced on the stages of Europe, Asia, Australia, and other areas. I have not traveled extensively abroad for some seven years now, but I do receive a steady mail from artists, producers, and audiences in foreign countries; there are visits and a steady correspondence with them and frequent newspaper reviews and articles concerning my work.
The Theatre in Search of a Fix
Authors: Corrigan Robert W.
Published: January 2007

One of the most amazing recent phenomena in our theatre is the discovery and gradual acceptance by audiences and critics of the plays of Beckett, lonesco, Adamov, Genet, and Ghelderode. With a prudishness that is just about par for the course, we tend to reject these plays and label their authors opprobiously as avant-garde. But somehow—in spite of our rejection—these plays keep reasserting themselves; they have a mysterious hold on our sensibilities. We find ourselves going to them, being moved or amused by them, and applauding them fully aware that we don't always know what they mean or what their authors intend. For all their seeming unintelligibility and simplicity, these plays possess a vitality we have missed, and more important, in their boldly experimental nature they are symptomatic of the unrest which prevails in the contemporary theatre. These playwrights want to “fix” the theatre, and their plays suggest ways that have been taken to revitalize it.
Modern Theatre: Points of View and Attack
Authors: Lagerkvist Pär
Published: January 2007

The evolution of the theatrical art is so dependent on external realities which are not amenable to change that it can seem meaningless to come forward with any wish or assumptions concerning the direction its development might take. Without reflection the theatre has invariably regarded all well-meant theorizing as only that, and although one really cannot reproach it on this account, it does have on its conscience not a little ungratefulness for genuinely vital and sympathetic interest shown it.

Still, at a time when the art of the theatre itself seems not to have any guiding principle, but rather many conflicting ones, and when tradition is mingled with occasional experiments whose lasting value appears doubtful, when the whole outlook appears confusing to such a great degree, it is, of course, understandable if an author who works with drama or wishes to do so, tries to orient himself a bit, tries to decide what would seem to be essential for the theatre both now and generally; and thereafter attempts to take a stand in regard to the different trends.
Hjalmar Bergman
Authors: Sprinchorn Evert
Published: January 2007

Generally regarded as the finest dramatist Sweden has produced since Strindberg, Hjalmar Bergman is a conspicuous example of the writer who is obsessed by a single motive. In his case the motive was the fear of father, and his entire dramatic production may be viewed as little more than variations on this theme. However, in tracing this theme through the plays of Bergman, I am less interested in showing the development of a personality than in revealing the struggles of an artist as he seeks a form in which he can not only express his personal feelings but get a wide audience to share those feelings openly with him.

Born in 1883, Bergman was a sickly, weak, fat, and extremely sensitive child, the butt of his playmates’ jokes. His father was a stern, successful, small-town businessman who completely dominated the thought and activities of young Hjalmar.
Strength and Weakness in Arthur Miller
Authors: Driver Tom F.
Published: January 2007

Arthur Miller's introduction to his Collected Plays (New York, 1957) is one of the major documents of American theatre. It reveals an eminent playwright having struggled to understand and perfect his craft. It shows him eager to use the theatre to express his evolving ideas. It shows his strengths, and also his weaknesses.

The foremost asset Arthur Miller possesses as a playwright is his knowledge that the theatre must dedicate itself to public matters. He has an acute sense of his audience as persons to be addressed, never merely spectators to be tolerated. “A play,” he writes, “ought to make sense to common-sense people … the only challenge worth the effort is the widest one and the tallest one, which is the people themselves.”

His writing, although it usually has an axe to grind, does not attempt to startle society with new ideas. Indeed, he does not believe that the theatre can promulgate entirely new ideas, because it must gather the assent of its audience as it moves along, and this is impossible with the radically new.
Two Books on Brecht
Authors: Bentley Eric
Published: January 2007

It is safe to assume that Mr. Willett knows as much about the work of Brecht as anyone else ever has, including Brecht himself, who hadn't a very good memory. The amount of research that has gone into The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht is prodigious, and happily the facts come to us filtered through a mind, not heaped-up by a research staff. If I say that the result is an illustrated catalogue, I should add that I like illustrated catalogues, and that this may well be the best such catalogue on the book market. The illustrations (to begin with) are mostly good in themselves and invariably relevant to the subject; the job of tracking them down must have been a formidable one, as Brecht left his traces in all manner of by-ways but seldom on the main highway. Brecht also cultivated his own brand of esotericism, so that, through the years, just finding his writings took more energy than reading them.
The Making of a Dramatist (1892-1903)
Authors: Bentley Eric
Published: January 2007

It was clear from the start that Bernard Shaw was a man of ideas. Later it turned out that he was a fabulous entertainer. But few have granted that the two Shaws were one. The old tendency was to allow that he was a publicist, a critic, an essayist, even a philosopher but to add: “not of course a dramatist.” The later tendency was to concede that he was a great showman but to discount his thoughtful side. As Egon Friedell said, you could suck the theatrical sugar from the pill of propaganda, and put the pill itself back on the plate.

Neither in the old days, then, nor in the later ones was Shaw considered a dramatist, for even the later generations have only thought him a master of the theatrical occasion, a man with a theatrical line of talk and a theatrical bag of tricks, a highly histrionic jokester—a comedian, certainly, but hardly a writer of serious comedy.
The Structure of Tamburlaine
Authors: Leech Clifford
Published: January 2007

When Tamburlaine was first published in 1590, it was described on its title page as “Deuided into two Tragicall Discourses”—a curious reminiscence of George Whetstone's Promos and Cassandra, which in 1578 was similarly described as “Deuided into two Comicall Discourses”—and each part of Tamburlaine was divided into five acts. The publication of 1590, however, does not command our full confidence, for Richard Jones, the printer, admitted in his prefatory address “To the Gentlemen Readers” that he had excised passages that he found “far vnmeet for the matter” which the play as a whole presented. Even so, there is a prima facie case for accepting the division into two parts, each with its characteristic Marlowe prologue, and into five acts for each part, as having authorial warrant.
Innocent Barabas
Authors: Harbage Alfred
Published: January 2007

In speaking of The Jew of Malta as “farce of the old English humour, the terribly serious, even savage comic humour, the humour which spent its last breath on the decadent genius of Dickens …” T. S. Eliot set the pitch for modern Marlovian criticism. We are reminded of Coleridge's remark about a critical dictum by Milton: “Speaking of poetry he says (as in a parenthesis), it is ‘simple, senuous, passionate.’ How awful is the power of words! fearful often in their consequence when merely felt, not understood….” When Eliot called Marlowe's play “farce,” he was saying what, in effect, most previous critics had said—the word can be “understood.” But when he added (as in a parenthesis) that this farce is “terribly serious” in the manner of the “decadent genius” of Dickens, the words can be “merely felt.”
“The form of Faustus’ fortunes good or bad”
Authors: Barber C. L.
Published: January 2007

Doctor Faustus tends to come apart in paraphrase. It can be turned into a fable about a Modern Man who seeks to break out of Medieval limitations. On the other hand, when one retells the story in religious terms, it tends to come out as though it were Marlowe's source, The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus. The truth is that the play is irreducibly dramatic. Marlowe dramatizes blasphemy, but not with the single perspective of a religious point of view: he dramatizes blasphemy as heroic endeavor. The play is an expression of the Reformation; it is profoundly shaped by sixteenth-century religious thought and ritual. But in presenting a search for magical dominion, Marlowe makes blasphemy a Promethean enterprise, heroic and tragic, an expression of the Renaissance.