14 research outputs found
Exploring colors from the past: in the steps of eighteenth-century dryers from France and England
No abstract available
Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial
SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87â1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98â1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87â1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication
OF GODS AND GANGS: INDIGO AS A NEW EDUCATIONAL MODEL
In late August 2009, a multi-year educational initiative called Silk Road Connect was launched in five pilot schools in underserved neighbourhoods of New York City as part of its Department of Educationâs Campaign for Middle School Success. The brainchild of cellist Yo Yo Ma and his Silk Road Project, Silk Road Connect âinspires passion-driven learning by empowering students and educators to seek connections across all areas of study and to follow their interests from the familiar to the foreign. In a spirit of playfulness and investigation, collaboration and creativity, this program invites students to experience learning as a continual process and the foundation for a meaningful life in our complex and interrelated world.â The topic of indigo (backed by storytelling, music, dance and film) was chosen as an ideal model for interrelated learning. Dating back to the tombs of Ancient Egypt yet also connecting with the personal experiences of students and their blue jeans, indigo provides a âthrough lineâ for exploring history, science, geography, music, the visual arts and culture of the rest of the planet. Resources introduced at the first teacher training sessions will continue to be developed by all those involved, including educators in partner institutions, as the project unfolds. The author, indigo consultant to this innovative project, will discuss in her paper the ideas and formation of Silk Road Connect
Dyehouse notes from the Crutchley Archive, 1716 to 1728: five stages of âgrainâ dyeing for red colours on woven wool fabrics
No abstract available
Dyehouse notes from the Crutchley Archive: âgrainâ dyeing practices with alum and tin âspiritsâ for red woollen cloth, 1716 to 1728
In early eighteenth-century London, the Crutchley family were amongst many dyers in the
business of creating âbeautiful cullersâ for fashionable textiles. The Crutchleysâ speciality was
to dye woollen cloths in scarlet, crimson and other red shades at their dyehouses in
Southwark near the River Thames. Nine of their dyersâ books with hundreds of colourful
dyed textile âpatternsâ and handwritten dyeing instructions have survived and are now part of
the UNESCO-registered Crutchley Archive in Southwark Archivesâ collection. [1]
All the instructions in the Crutchley books are for âin grainâ and âout of grainâ dyeing involving
cochineal, madder and occasionally stick lac with alum and tin mordants and permitted
additions of brazilwood, logwood and other dyes to create tonal shades and tints. The three
oldest books, dated 1716 to 1728, also hold detailed records of dyehouse operations: preand post-dyeing treatments of the cloths; preparing fresh and recycled baths of mordants
and dyes; making tin âspiritsâ (a nitrate solution) with aqua fortis (nitric acid); and selecting
dyeing equipment, timings and water sources. The Crutchleysâ battle to prevent âwhite spotâ
spoilage of scarlet cloths, a known risk from aqua fortis in tin spirits, highlights the
advantages of their dyehouses being near river and well water sources and tenter-fields.
In our presentation we share and discuss these Early Modern dyeing practices in the context
of the colours produced, and the daily manual labour and sensory skills involved in physical
acts that come alive in these masterly notes from experienced dyers. For dye history, these
intimate accounts give a rare opportunity of actual dye work practices to compare with
published information of the period and surviving material evidence from red wool dyeing
contemporaries of the Crutchley family to inform modern perspectives of historical dyeing
The Crutchley Archive: Red Colours on Wool Fabrics from Master Dyers, London 1716â1744
International audienc
Exploring colors from the past: in the steps of eighteenth-century dyers from France and England
International audienceThis paper presents some aspects of the contribution to the history of colors and dyeing technology to be expected from the comprehensive study of a rare type of historical document, which was not published and exploited until recently. It describes and compares several earlyâ to midâeighteenth century manuscripts of dye books or treatises on dyeing from England and France, having in common an essential feature: all are illustrated with scores of samples of dyed wool fabric. The French sources are the Memoirs on Dyeing of two dyework owners in wool broadclothâproducing centers in Languedoc in southern France. The English sources belong to the Crutchley Archive and consist of the dye books of a family-run dyed wool fabric business in Southwark, London. In this paper, the authors present the respective color gamuts of the French dyers and their contemporary colleagues in London. The paper begins with the study of corresponding dye recipes and the chromatic specifications of the samples based on color names, which were obtained through colorimetric measurements and expressed in the CIE Lab and CIE LCh systems of color description. Madder red is then proposed as a case study for comparisons of the dyeing processes and resulting chromatic effects in the English and French sources
The mosques of Bayana, Rajasthan, and the emergence of a prototype for the mosques of the Mughals
Bayanaâs political autonomy during the sultanate history of Delhi is reflected in its architectural monuments, particularly the mosques. The town, built by Muhammad b. SÄmâs governor BahÄ al-dÄ«n Tughrul, has preserved his late twelfth-century mosque, which together with its early fourteenth-century extension was praised by Ibn BattĆ«ta, but it is the later mosques which show a pattern of continuous independence in architectural style. When in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries arcuate forms imported from KhurÄsÄn flourished in Delhi, the Bayana architects, although aware of the style continued to choose the ancient Indian trabeate system, not as a result of lack of innovation, but as a display of their autonomy. Their design developments in the late fifteenth to sixteenth centuries led to a new concept for mosque plans, where the prayer hall no longer filled the western side, but jutted out into the courtyard, so that the northern and southern walls of the mosque stood within its courtyard. Akbar who had his capitals in Agra and Fathpur Sikri, once two villages in the Bayana territory, also adopted features of the architecture of the region. The new mosque plan first appears to some extent in Shaikh SalÄ«m ChishtÄ«âs Mosque, but the fully-fledged plan becomes a feature of later Mughal mosques of the time of ShÄh JahÄn and his successors