Status and Lived Experience in Medieval Italian Communes

Throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the communes of Florence and Bologna opened participation in government to large portions of their adult male populations. As these efforts to broaden political power unfolded, popular régimes sought to protect their monopolies on political power by targeting specific groups for exclusion from a variety of civic offices and membership in popular associations. Foreigners and urban knights known as magnates were frequent targets in Florence and Bologna. In this dissertation, I draw on the rich archives of Bologna and Florence to explore how magnates and foreigners encountered and reacted to their imposed statuses. Magnates tended to respond to their status by either reconciling with the commune and becoming rehabilitated or attempting to reassert their power through opportunistic violence. The financial strain that magnates and foreigners lived under could be made significantly more difficult if they were heavily indebted. While magnates tended to have more access to wealth, it is less clear how foreigners created systems of support in societies that were increasingly becoming more closed off to them. To counter this, foreigners sought out support by becoming parts of economic networks through their involvement in transactions. Foreigners also turned to systems of mutual aid and support that were not limited to any single occupation group or administrative division to build and reinforce community networks

Toward the elimination of medical oncology admissions

e20740 Background: While medical oncology is growing in volume, it is increasingly becoming an outpatient enterprise. Issues leading to hospital admissions in the past are commonly either prevented or managed on an outpatient basis. We sought out trends within our practice on the frequency and reasons for hospital admissions. Methods: Computerized office visit and hospital admissions data were obtained on admissions by physician and year, for Pa. Oncology-Hematology Associates from 2000–2007. A retrospective chart review was also done for one physician from 6/08–12/08 to determine the reasons for admission. Results: While the total number of patients seen per year increased by 40% over the review period from 2000–2007, the relative number of admissions has steadily declined. Adjusting the number of admissions per patients in the practice (since the overall increase in volume partially masks the decline in admission frequency), the reduction in admissions is further evident. The frequency of admissions for the 4 senior oncologists showed a 50% reduction in admissions per patient over the past 8 years. Of 56 admissions reviewed from 6/08–12/08, 20 were related to infections (although only a minority were neutropenic), 13 for symptom management of disease progression, 6 for anemia/bleeding, 3 for bowel obstruction, 3 for non-infectious complications of treatment, and only 1 for chemotherapy administration. Conclusions: Trends in our practice indicate a continued decline in the frequency of admissions per patient. Elective admissions for diagnosis, work-up, and chemotherapy are rare. Improved medications for symptoms related to cancer, its complications and treatment-related toxicities and improvements in palliative care (psychosocial support, communication about prognosis and treatment goals, and end-of-life care) have contributed to decreased admissions. Increasingly, even patients with incurable disease are managed from diagnosis to death entirely as outpatients. Optimizing outpatient management and avoiding admissions in medical oncology has major implications for practice quality, patient quality of life, cost and allocation of health care resources. No significant financial relationships to disclose. </jats:p

Cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells contain a membrane glycoprotein immunologically related to platelet glycoprotein Ib

Abstract Using a platelet glycoprotein Ib (GpIb)-specific monoclonal antibody, AP-1, we have studied cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) for the presence of GpIb. Radiolabeled AP-1 bound specifically and saturably to HUVEC in suspension and detected a single class of binding sites (100,000/cell). When Triton X-100 extracts of HUVEC were chromatographed on wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-Sepharose, radioiodinated, precipitated with AP-1, and subjected to reduced sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), major radioactive bands of 228,000, 145,000, and 130,000 were seen. The latter two bands correspond to the 156,000 and 140,000 bands, representing GpIb alpha and glycocalicin, respectively, which are seen when platelets are subjected to the same procedure. The 228,000 band corresponds to a band previously noted in immunoprecipitates of platelet GpIb but not fully explained. When HUVEC were grown in the presence of 35S-methionine, extracted with Triton X-100, chromatographed on WGA-Sepharose, immunoprecipitated with AP-1, and subjected to reduced SDS-PAGE, radioactive bands of 210,000, 156,000, and 90,000 were seen. We conclude that cultured HUVEC synthesize and express on their surface a glycoprotein immunologically related to platelet GpIb.</jats:p

Cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells contain a membrane glycoprotein immunologically related to platelet glycoprotein Ib

Using a platelet glycoprotein Ib (GpIb)-specific monoclonal antibody, AP-1, we have studied cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) for the presence of GpIb. Radiolabeled AP-1 bound specifically and saturably to HUVEC in suspension and detected a single class of binding sites (100,000/cell). When Triton X-100 extracts of HUVEC were chromatographed on wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-Sepharose, radioiodinated, precipitated with AP-1, and subjected to reduced sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), major radioactive bands of 228,000, 145,000, and 130,000 were seen. The latter two bands correspond to the 156,000 and 140,000 bands, representing GpIb alpha and glycocalicin, respectively, which are seen when platelets are subjected to the same procedure. The 228,000 band corresponds to a band previously noted in immunoprecipitates of platelet GpIb but not fully explained. When HUVEC were grown in the presence of 35S-methionine, extracted with Triton X-100, chromatographed on WGA-Sepharose, immunoprecipitated with AP-1, and subjected to reduced SDS-PAGE, radioactive bands of 210,000, 156,000, and 90,000 were seen. We conclude that cultured HUVEC synthesize and express on their surface a glycoprotein immunologically related to platelet GpIb.</jats:p

Understanding and Surviving the Transition to Value-Based Oncology

This paper and the three presentations it supports are drawn from the theme of the 2012 Cancer Center Business Summit (CCBS): “Transitioning to Value-Based Oncology: Strategies to Survive and Thrive.” The CCBS is a forum on oncology business innovation, and the principal question the organizers address each year is “What are the creative, innovative, and best business models and practices that are being conceived or piloted today that may provide a responsible and sustainable platform for the delivery of cancer care tomorrow?” At this moment in health care—when so much is in flux and new business models and solutions abound—the oncology sector has a solemn responsibility: to forge the business models and relationships that will help to define a new cancer care value proposition and a sustainable health care system of tomorrow for the benefit of the patients it serves to get it “right.” </jats:p