Aesthetic Worlds: Rimbaud, Williams and Baroque Form

The sense of form that provides the modern poet with a unique experience of the literary object has been crucial to various attempts to compare poetry to other cultural activities. In maintaining similar conceptions of the relationship between poetry and painting, Arthur Rimbaud and W. C. Williams establish a common basis for interpreting their creative work. And yet their poetry is more crucially concerned with the sudden emergence of visible "worlds" containing verbal objects that integrate a new kind of literary text. This paper discusses the emergence of "aesthetic worlds" in the work of both poets and then examines how a common concern with Baroque form unites them in the phenomenological task of overcoming Cartesian dualism

Evaluación ética de la memoria económica de los contratos de ensayos clínicos con medicamentos en España

Objetivos: Analizar el grado de homogeneidad de la memoria económica incluida en los contratos de centros sanitarios españoles participantes en ensayos clínicos (EC) con medicamentos para detectar puntos de potencial conflicto de interés en la investigación clínica. Material y métodos: Se ha analizado, mediante un autocuestionario, la memoria económica de 40 contratos, 31 correspondientes a centros sanitarios privados y públicos seleccionados al azar y 9 correspondientes a las comunidades autónomas con modelo de contrato único. Resultados: El equipo investigador, en el 97,5% de los casos (39 contratos), es el destinatario mayoritario de la remuneración económica por participar en un EC. El porcentaje aportado difiere según el centro, siendo mayor si es público (p=0,021) pero sin especificarse en el 50% de los contratos. En 38 de los 40 contratos analizados no se proporciona un listado de precios de las pruebas complementarias. En el 57,5%, (23 contratos), no se especifica si los gastos de los pacientes son abonados por el promotor. En el 77,5% (31 casos) no se especifica si los gastos derivados de reuniones relacionadas con el EC se incluyen en la memoria económica. Conclusiones: Existe una elevada heterogeneidad en el contenido de la memoria económica. La implantación de un modelo de memoria económica que incluyera una cantidad económica de remuneración fija por cada paciente reclutado por parte del promotor, para todos los centros participantes, podría disminuir las desigualdades entre centros, los conflictos de intereses, y además, incrementaría la trasparencia y la calidad de los EC.Abstract: Objectives: To analyze the homogeneity of the economic report of the contracts of Spanish medical centers participating in clinical trials with medicinal products for detecting points of potential conflict of interest in clinical research. Material and methods: We analyzed, through a selfautoquestionnaire, the budgetary information of the 40 contracts, 31 of them corresponding to public and private healthcare centers, randomly selected, and 9 corresponding to the Spanish regions who have only a model contract. Results: The investigator team is the recipient majority (97.5% of cases) the economic remuneration for participating in a clinical trial. The percentage differs according to the center considered, being greater in the public setting (p=0.021) but no specified in 50% of the contracts. In 38 of the 40 contracts analyzed a price list of tests is not provided. In 57.5% of the patients are paid by the promoter. In 17.5% failed to mention that the comparative drug to be supplied free of charge. And, 77.5% did not specify whether the costs of meetings relating to the clinical trial or not to include in the expenses of the promoter. Conclusions: There is a high heterogeneity in the content of the budgetary information. The implementation of a single contract model would reduce the inequalities between schools, conflict of interest and increase transparency and quality of the clinical trial

Spatially Explicit Data: Stewardship and Ethical Challenges in Science

Scholarly communication is at an unprecedented turning point created in part by the increasing saliency of data stewardship and data sharing. Formal data management plans represent a new emphasis in research, enabling access to data at higher volumes and more quickly, and the potential for replication and augmentation of existing research. Data sharing has recently transformed the practice, scope, content, and applicability of research in several disciplines, in particular in relation to spatially specific data. This lends exciting potentiality, but the most effective ways in which to implement such changes, particularly for disciplines involving human subjects and other sensitive information, demand consideration. Data management plans, stewardship, and sharing, impart distinctive technical, sociological, and ethical challenges that remain to be adequately identified and remedied. Here, we consider these and propose potential solutions for their amelioration

Depression and anxiety symptoms post-stroke/TIA:prevalence and associations in cross-sectional data from a regional stroke registry

BACKGROUND: Mood disorders are commonly seen in those with cerebrovascular disease. Literature to-date has tended to focus on depression and on patients with stroke, with relatively little known about post-stroke anxiety or mood disorder in those with transient ischaemic attack (TIA). We aimed to describe prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms in stroke and TIA cohorts and to explore association with clinical and socio-demographic factors. METHODS: We used a city wide primary care stroke registry (Glasgow Local Enhanced Service for Stroke - LES). All community dwelling stroke-survivors were included. We described cross-sectional prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Data on clinical and demographic details was collected and univariable and multivariable analyses performed to describe associations with HADS scores. We examined those with a diagnosis of 'stroke' and 'TIA' as separate cohorts. RESULTS: From 13,283 potentially eligible stroke patients in the registry, we had full HADS data on 4,079. Of the 3,584 potentially eligible TIA patients, we had full HADS data on 1,247 patients. Across the stroke cohort, 1181 (29%) had HADS anxiety scores suggestive of probable or possible anxiety; 993 (24%) for depression. For TIA patients, 361 (29%) had anxiety and 254 (21%) had depression. Independent predictors of both depression and anxiety symptoms were female sex, younger age and higher socioeconomic deprivation score (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Using HADS, we found a high prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in a community-based cohort of patients with cerebrovascular disease

Telomerase activity and telomere length in primary and metastatic tumors from pediatric bone cancer patients

The presence of telomerase activity has been analyzed in almost all tumor types and tumor-derived cell lines. However, there are very few studies that focus on the presence of telomerase activity in bone tumors, and most of them report analysis on very few samples or bone-derived cell lines. The objective of this study was to analyze the telomere length and telomerase activity in primary tumors and metastatic lesions from pediatric osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma patients. The presence of telomerase activity was analyzed by the telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay, and the telomere length was measured by Southern blot. Results were related to survival and clinical outcome. Telomerase activity was detected in 85% of the bone tumor metastases (100% Ewing's sarcomas and 75% osteosarcomas) but only in 12% of the primary tumors (11.1% osteosarcomas and 12.5% Ewing's sarcomas). Bone tumor tissues with telomerase activity had mean telomere lengths 3 kb shorter than those with no detectable telomerase activity (p = 0.041). The presence of telomerase activity was associated with survival (p = 0.009), and longer event-free survival periods were found in patients who lacked telomerase activity compared with those who had detectable telomerase activity levels in their tumor tissues (p = 0.037). The presence of longer telomeres in primary pediatric bone tumors than in metastases could be indicative of alternative mechanisms of lengthening of telomeres for their telomere maintenance rather than telomerase activity. Nevertheless, the activation of telomerase seems to be a crucial step in the malignant progression and acquisition of invasive capability of bone tumors

Faith-based Institutions as Venues for Obesity Prevention

Purpose of review: To critique the scope and value of recent studies with a focus on obesity-related health promotion in faith organizations. Recent findings: Electronic database searches, scanning of the reference lists of identified articles, and hand searching of journals for articles written in English and published in 2013-16, revealed 16 studies. Half of the studies involved African-Americans, in churches and with predominantly female participants. Research among other ethnic groups was more likely to be exploratory. All of the 11 studies reporting the impact of programs on weight-related measures showed favourable outcomes. However due to study limitations (small sample size; short duration; attrition), significant unbiased effects cannot yet be concluded for most of the interventions reviewed. Study strengths included application of theory in community engagement, and detailed description of cultural tailoring. Summary: Faith organizations show promise as settings for obesity prevention among high-risk groups, particularly African-Americans. Support for progressing formative work to adequately powered, randomized controlled trials is vital. Wider involvement of diverse faith settings, and targeting obesity in men and childhood, would be valuable developments

Defects in Meiotic Recombination Delay Progression Through Pachytene in Tex19.1-/- Mouse Spermatocytes

Recombination, synapsis, chromosome segregation and gene expression are co-ordinately regulated during meiosis to ensure successful execution of this specialised cell division. Studies with multiple mutant mouse lines have shown that mouse spermatocytes possess quality control checkpoints that eliminate cells with persistent defects in chromosome synapsis. In addition, studies on Trip13 mod/mod mice suggest that pachytene spermatocytes that successfully complete chromosome synapsis can undergo meiotic arrest in response to defects in recombination. Here, we present additional support for a meiotic recombination-dependent checkpoint using a different mutant mouse line, Tex19.1 −/− . The appearance of early recombination foci is delayed in Tex19.1 −/− spermatocytes during leptotene/zygotene, but some Tex19.1 −/− spermatocytes still successfully synapse their chromosomes and we show that these spermatocytes are enriched for early recombination foci. Furthermore, we show that patterns of axis elongation, chromatin modifications and histone H1t expression are also all co-ordinately skewed towards earlier substages of pachytene in these autosomally synapsed Tex19.1 −/− spermatocytes. We also show that this skew towards earlier pachytene substages occurs in the absence of elevated spermatocyte death in the population, that spermatocytes with features of early pachytene are present in late stage Tex19.1 −/− testis tubules and that the delay in histone H1t expression in response to loss of Tex19.1 does not occur in a Spo11 mutant background. Taken together, these data suggest that a recombination-dependent checkpoint may be able to modulate pachytene progression in mouse spermatocytes to accommodate some types of recombination defect

Evolution of Highly Magnetic White Dwarfs by Field Decay and Cooling: Theory and Simulations

Abstract We investigate the luminosity suppression and its effect on the mass–radius relation and cooling evolution of highly magnetized white dwarfs. Based on the effect of magnetic field relative to gravitational energy, we suitably modify our treatment of the radiative opacity, magnetostatic equilibrium, and degenerate core equation of state to obtain the structural properties of these stars. Although the Chandrasekhar mass limit is retained in the absence of magnetic field and irrespective of the luminosity, strong central fields of about 1014 G can yield super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs with masses ∼2.0 M ⊙. Smaller white dwarfs tend to remain super-Chandrasekhar for sufficiently strong central fields even when their luminosity is significantly suppressed to 10−16 L ⊙. Nevertheless, owing to the cooling evolution and simultaneous field decay over 10 Gyr, the limiting masses of small magnetized white dwarfs can fall to 1.5 M ⊙ over time. However, the majority of these systems still remain practically hidden throughout their cooling evolution because of their high fields and correspondingly low luminosities. Utilizing the stellar evolution code stars, we obtain close agreement with the analytical mass limit estimates, which suggests that our analytical formalism is physically motivated. Our results argue that super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs born as a result of strong-field effects may not remain so forever. This explains their apparent scarcity, in addition to making them hard to detect because of their suppressed luminosities.</jats:p

Effective peer-to-peer support for young people with end-stage renal disease: a mixed methods evaluation of Camp COOL

__Abstract__ __Background__ The Camp COOL programme aims to help young Dutch people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) develop self-management skills. Fellow patients already treated in adult care (hereafter referred to as ‘buddies’) organise the day-to-day program, run the camp, counsel the attendees, and also participate in the activities. The attendees are young people who still have to transfer to adult care. This study aimed to explore the effects of this specific form of peer-to-peer support on the self-management of young people (16–25 years) with ESRD who participated in Camp COOL (CC) (hereafter referred to as ‘participants’). __Methods__ A mixed methods research design was employed. Semi-structured interviews (n = 19) with initiators/staff, participants, and healthcare professionals were conducted. These were combined with retrospective and pre-post surveys among participants (n = 62), and observations during two camp weeks. __Results__ Self-reported effects of participants were: increased self-confidence, more disease-related knowledge, feeling capable of being more responsible and open towards others, and daring to stand up for yourself. According to participants, being a buddy or having one positively affected them. Self-efficacy of attendees and independence of buddies increased, while attendees’ sense of social inclusion decreased (measured as domains of health-related quality of life). The buddy role was a pro-active combination of being supervisor, advisor, and leader. __Conclusions__ Camp COOL allowed young people to support each other in adjusting to everyday life with ESRD. Participating in the camp positively influenced self-management in this group. Peerto- peer support through buddies was much appreciated. Support from young adults was not only beneficial for adolescent attendees, but also for young adult buddies. Paediatric nephrologists are encouraged to refer patients to CC and to facilitate such initiatives. Together with nephrologists in adult care, they could take on a role in selecting buddies

A Simple PCR Method for Rapid Genotype Analysis of the TH-MYCN Transgenic Mouse

BACKGROUND: The TH-MYCN transgenic mouse is the most widely used murine model of human neuroblastoma, in which a human MYCN oncogene is targeted to neuroectodermal cells of developing mice under the influence of the rat tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. So far, homozygous transgenic mice have been identified by either Southern blot or quantitative real-time PCR. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To establish a simple and reliable genotyping method by conventional PCR, we confirmed the integration of the transgene in the TH-MYCN transgenic mouse by Southern blot and inverse PCR analyses. Our results showed that either five or six copies were found to be inserted in a head-to-tail tandem configuration at a single locus. The MYCN transgene/host DNA junction was sequenced and the integration site was identified at chromosome 18qE4. Finally, we succeeded in designing rapid, simple and reliable genotyping method by common PCR using primers flanking the integrated TH-MYCN transgene. CONCLUSION: We established a simple and reliable genotyping PCR method for determining the integration site of the TH-MYCN transgene that enables all possible genotypes to be distinguished within several hours. TH-MYCN mice are excellent model for human neuroblastoma study, thus our results will largely be useful for facilitating the pace of neuroblastoma study, including in the study of the tumourigenic process, and in the development of therapies to treat patients suffering from neuroblastoma