Metastasis

Metastasis, or metastatic disease, is the spread of a cancer or other disease from one organ or part to another not directly connected with it. The new occurrences of disease thus generated are referred to as metastases /mə ˈtæs tə siːz/ (sometimes abbreviated "mets"). It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize (also spelled metastasise); new research has caused this to be reconsidered. The existence of metastatic cancers in the absence of primary tumors also suggests that metastasis is not always caused by malignant cells that leave primary tumors.Metastasis is a Greek word meaning "displacement", from μετά, meta, "next", and στάσις, stasis, "placement".

Cancer occurs after a single cell in a tissue is progressively genetically damaged to produce cells with uncontrolled proliferation. This uncontrolled proliferation by mitosis produces a primary heterogeneic tumour. The cells which constitute the tumor eventually undergo metaplasia, followed by dysplasia then anaplasia, resulting in a malignant phenotype. This malignancy allows for invasion into the circulation, followed by invasion to a second site for tumorigenesis.

Metastaseis (Xenakis)

Metastaseis (Greek: Μεταστάσεις; spelled Metastasis in correct French transliteration, or in some early writings by the composer Métastassis) is an orchestral work for 61 musicians by Iannis Xenakis. His first major work, it was written in 1953-54 after his studies with Olivier Messiaen and is 8 minutes in length. The work was premiered at the 1955 Donaueschingen Festival with Hans Rosbaud conducting. This work was originally a part of a Xenakis' trilogy titled Anastenaria (together with Procession aux eaux claires and Sacrifice), but was detached by Xenakis for separate performance.

Metastaseis was inspired by the combination of an Einsteinian view of time and Xenakis' memory of the sounds of warfare, and structured on mathematical ideas by Le Corbusier. Music usually consists of a set of sounds ordered in time; music played backwards is hardly recognizable. Messiaen's similar observations led to his noted uses of non-retrogradable rhythms; Xenakis wished to reconcile the linear perception of music with a relativistic view of time. In warfare, as Xenakis knew it through his musical ear, no individual bullet being fired could be distinguished among the cacophony, but taken as a whole the sound of "gunfire" was clearly identifiable. The particular sequence of shots was unimportant: the individual guns could have fired in a completely different pattern from the way they actually did, but the sound produced would still have been the same. These ideas combined to form the basis of Metastaseis.

Minerva (video game)

Minerva (stylized as MINERVA) is an episodic series of single-player modifications ("mods") for Valve Corporation's Half-Life 2. The mod was created by Adam Foster. Installments are released as each is finalized: the three releases for the Metastasis chapter have already been made, with the third installment released on October 1, 2007.

The plot and settings of Minerva are linked to Someplace Else, Foster's original map for Half-Life, and to Half-Life 2 itself.

The mod was released on Steam on April 30, 2013.

Plot

Storyline

Minerva's plot is progressed through radio messages from the female character after whom the mod is named; the messages are relayed as text rather than spoken words. Minerva's communications are sarcastic and dismissive, and her demeanour brusque, treating the player as a data-gathering tool at her disposal. Information and storyline is revealed in short segments over the course of the chapters, often with no explanation; for example, in Metastasis she reveals that her (and therefore the player's) goal is to discover the Combine's purposes on and underneath the episode's island, but not why she considers this important or how the player became involved in the first place.