Gratz College

Abstract Among the regional subcultures of medieval Judaism, there were few, if any, that contributed less to medieval Jewish philosophy than Ashkenazic Judaism. This absence is striking in view of the crucial place of Ashkenazic Jews in medieval Jewish intellectual life, on the one hand, and in modern Jewish philosophy, on the other. There is one major exception: during the late sixteenth century, three of the most significant Jewish thinkers were Ashkenazic Jews: Moses Isserles, Judah Loewe ben Bezalel (called Maharal of Prague), and Eliezer Eilburg. If the impact of Ashkenazic Jews on medieval Jewish philosophy was in general slight, the reverse is not true. The impact of Jewish rationalism on Ashkenazic Judaism, beginning in the twelfth century and throughout the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, was far-reaching. A word about ethnic definitions: “Ashkenaz” is a Biblical place name, repurposed in the Middle Ages as the Hebrew name for “Germany.” In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the connotation of the adjective “Ashkenazi,” then expanded to include all Yiddish- or Judeo-German speaking Jews, or even descendants of Yiddish-speaking Jews, including those who lived outside of the German lands, mainly in Italy, Bohemia, and Poland. On account of their extensive social and religious ties, the Jews of medieval “Ashkenaz” are often paired with those of “Tsarfat,” which in medieval usage meant specifically “northern France.” The discussion here will encompass all the Jewish communities north of the Alps and the Loire between 1150 and 1750.

Abstract In 1886, Kaufmann Kohler and his circle of liberal rabbis launched The Jewish Reformer to disseminate their vision for Reform Judaism. The impetus was the articulation of the so-called Pittsburgh Platform (November 1885). Though short-lived, the newspaper carried with it high hopes. From its masthead to its choice of English- and German-language articles, the editors meant for The Jewish Reformer to bring together the “radical” and “moderate” branches of America’s Reform Jewish community through the power of the press.

ABSTRACTMessenger RNA-containing lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) enabled widespread COVID-19 vaccination with a small fraction of vaccine recipients displaying acute or sub-acute inflammatory symptoms. The molecular mechanism of these adverse events (AEs) remains undetermined. Here we report that the mRNA-LNP vaccine, Comirnaty, triggers low-level complement (C) activation and production of inflammatory cytokines, which may be key underlying processes of inflammatory AEs. In serum, Comirnaty and the control PEGylated liposome (Doxebo) caused different rises of C split products, C5a, sC5b-9, Bb and C4d, indicating stimulation of the classical pathway of C activation mainly by the liposomes, while a stronger stimulation of the alternative pathway was equal with the vaccine and the liposomes. Spikevax had similar C activation as Comirnaty, but viral or synthetic mRNAs had no such effect. In autologous serum-supplemented peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures, Comirnaty caused increases in the levels of sC5b-9 and proinflammatory cytokines in the following order: IL-1α < IFN-γ < IL-1β < TNF-α < IL-6 < IL-8, whereas heatinactivation of serum prevented the rises of IL-1α, IL-1β, and TNF-α. Clinical C inhibitors, Soliris and Berinert, suppressed vaccine-induced C activation in serum but did not affect cytokine production when applied individually. These findings suggest that the PEGylated lipid coating of mRNA-LNP nanoparticles can trigger C activation mainly via the alternative pathway, which may be causally related to the induction of some, but not all inflammatory cytokines. While innate immune stimulation is essential for the vaccine’s efficacy, concurrent production of C- and PBMC-derived inflammatory mediators may contribute to some of the AEs. Pharmacological attenuation of harmful cytokine production using C inhibitors likely requires blocking the C cascade at multiple points.

Se presenta una singular jarra cerámica de época altoimperial depositada en una inhumación que fue descubierta en una de las áreas funerarias de Augusta Emerita, capital de la Lusitania. El interés de la pieza radica en presentar varios mensajes esgrafiados, entre los que se destaca el comienzo de un alfabeto griego así como una viñeta de carácter obsceno. Palabras clave Grafitos, cerámica, hábitos epigráficos, abecedario, escena erótica.

我々はこれまで、RNAスプライシングパターンの変化を生体内で可視化する独自の技術を開発し (Nature Methods 2006)、このスプライシングレポーターを使って異常RNAスプライシングを是正できる化合物を探索する独創的創薬戦略によって、家族性自律神経失調症 (Proc Natl Acad Sci 2015, Nature Commun 2021)、デュシェンヌ型筋ジストロフィー (Nat Commun 2011)、嚢胞性線維症 (Cell Chem Biol 2020)、QT延長症候群などに対し、有効な治療薬候補化合物を見出すことに成功している。また、これらのスプライシング制御化合物で、がん細胞内のスプライシング環境にバイアスを与えることによって、スプライスネオ抗原を人工的に産生誘導出来ることを報告した（Science Transl Med,2022、PCT/JP 2021-144961）。スプラシング異常に起因する遺伝性疾患保因者に対し、我々が開発してきたスプライシング制御化合物により治療可能な対象者をゲノム情報からAIにより選択する技術を確立することによって、遺伝病や遺伝性がんの個別化に道を拓ける可能性がある。

Ghost Citizens: Jewish Return to a Postwar City. By Lukasz Krzyzanowski. Translated by Madeline G. Levine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020. Pp. 352. Cloth $35.00. ISBN 978-0674984660. - Volume 54 Issue 3