Neuro-electronic technology in medicine and beyond

This dissertation looks at the technology and social issues involved with interfacing electronics directly to the human nervous system, in particular the methods for both reading and stimulating nerves. The development and use of cochlea implants is discussed, and is compared with recent developments in artificial vision. The final sections consider a future for non-medicinal applications of neuro-electronic technology. Social attitudes towards use for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes are discussed, and the viability of use in the latter case assessed

Sociolinguistics II: Deviance, Dystopia, And Democracy (LING82) Syllabus

This course builds upon foundational concepts in sociolinguistic theory to examine discourses of news and entertainment media, across science fiction and politics. Drawing upon contributions in applied linguistics, media studies, cultural studies, and archival research, we ask which realities are mirrored in our everyday language and in the fictional and sensationalized worlds we engage in through the media we consume. What role does science fiction play in our explorations of social difference, deviance, control, disability, sexuality, and normativity? Can science fiction assist the goals of social justice and democracy? How does language surface in the biopolitics of human and non-humans? Together, we will explore key film and television, and select novels by authors Max Brooks, Octavia Butler, and Philip K. Dick. Students will learn advanced methods and theories in multimodal critical discourse analysis and digital humanities

Television and children: developmentally harmful or educationally beneficial?

Includes bibliographical references

Occasional Publications on Northern Life, No. 04

The need to exchange information on research in reindeer and caribou diseases became apparent to investigators attending the Second International Reindeer/Caribou Symposium in Roros, Norway, in 1979. Initially, bibliographies were to be exchanged by being submitted to and subsequently distributed by workers at the University of Alaska. When the bibliographies were submitted, it seemed sensible to computerize the lists to facilitate searches for specific information in the future. An apparently simple task became amazingly complex. This is the resultant collection of publications by reindeer/caribou disease researchers. Because researchers in wildlife diseases tend to work on more than one species or topic, out of interest or necessity, a decision was made to include all of a person's references rather than to limit them to strictly reindeer/caribou diseases. The authors hope this will provide a good basis for exchange of information among all those interested in reindeer/caribou diseases

Zombie Analysis For Web

Part 1 of assignment - Authoring your critical discourse analysis on zombies (Essay 3): 800-word essay that examines language and communication as used in Max Brooks’ novel World War Z. This essay comprises your original contribution to the [ZOMBIES REIMAGINED] project. Part 2 of the assignment - Create a Timeline or StoryMap to accompany your essay as a visual aid and presentation for readers. This animated visual presentation will be published with your essay to the project website. Part 3 of the assignment - After revision, use Markdown language to ready your essay for upload to the project webpage. To access the webpage, sign into your Github account, access prose.io, and upload your essay (in Markdown) with any images

Meatpacking’s Human Toll

[Excerpt] The meatpacking industry has shown little inclination to respect its workers\u27 rights on its own. Congress and the Bush administration should take decisive steps to protect the lives and well-being of these men and women. But they are unlikely to act until consumers demand meat that is not tainted by workers\u27 blood, sweat and fear

Incidence and outcome of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis

Background: Studies report variation in the incidence and outcomes of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS). This study reports the incidence and outcome of EPS cases in a national cohort of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods: The incident cohort of adult patients who started PD between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2007 in Scotland (n = 1238) was identified from the Scottish Renal Registry. All renal units in Scotland identified potential EPS cases diagnosed from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2014, by which point all patients had a minimum of 7 years follow-up from start of PD. Results: By 31 December 2014, 35 EPS cases were diagnosed in the 1238 patient cohort: an overall incidence of 2.8%. The incidence for subgroups with longer PD duration rises exponentially: 1.1% by 1 year, 3.4% by 3 years, 8.8% at 4 years, 9.4% at 5 years and 22.2% by 7 years. Outcomes are poor with mortality of 57.1% by 1 year after diagnosis. Survival analysis demonstrates an initial above-average survival in patients who later develop EPS, which plummets to well below average after EPS diagnosis. Conclusions: The incidence of EPS is reassuringly low provided PD exposure is not prolonged and this supports ongoing use of PD. However, continuing PD beyond 3 years results in an exponential rise in the risk of developing EPS and deciding whether this risk is acceptable should be made on an individual patient basis

Two Amino Acid Residues Contribute to a Cation-π Binding Interaction in the Binding Site of an Insect GABA Receptor

Cys-loop receptor binding sites characteristically possess an "aromatic box," where several aromatic amino acid residues surround the bound ligand. A cation-π interaction between one of these residues and the natural agonist is common, although the residue type and location are not conserved. Even in the closely related vertebrate GABA_A and GABA_C receptors, residues in distinct locations perform this role: in GABA_A receptors, a Tyr residue in loop A forms a cation-π interaction with GABA, while in GABA_C receptors it is a loop B residue. GABA-activated Cys-loop receptors also exist in invertebrates, where they have distinct pharmacologies and are the target of a range of pesticides. Here we examine the location of GABA in an insect binding site by incorporating a series of fluorinated Phe derivatives into the receptor binding pocket using unnatural amino acid mutagenesis, and evaluating the resulting receptors when expressed in Xenopus oocytes. A homology model suggests that two aromatic residues (in loops B and C) are positioned such that they could contribute to a cation-π interaction with the primary ammonium of GABA, and the data reveal a clear correlation between the GABA EC_(50) and the cation-π binding ability both at Phe206 (loop B) and Tyr254 (loop C), demonstrating for the first time the contribution of two aromatic residues to a cation-π interaction in a Cys-loop receptor