The Comic Uncanny in John Banville’s Eclipse

Humour is a key facet of John Banville's aesthetic but is currently an under-researched aspect of his oeuvre. Few critics devote sustained attention to the role of comedy in Banville's prose; most pay lip service to humour before moving on to more serious business. By contrast, the Banvillean uncanny is often examined as a defining feature of the writer's later work. This article proposes that Banville's novels demonstrate the conjunction of the comic and the uncanny, exposing how they work as interrelated, mutually productive modes. This is especially true when theatricality is also in play, as in Eclipse (2000). Sharing techniques, effects, and concerns--doubling and double-takes, repetition, insinuation and implication, and defamiliarization--the comic and the uncanny combine to create a profoundly unsettling aesthetic. My approach thus emphasizes comedy's potential as a conceptual tool with which to approach the many strange and humorous dissonances of contemporary fiction

Controls of soil pipe frequency in upland blanket peat

Soil pipes were surveyed in 160 British blanket peat catchments using consistent application of ground penetrating radar. Soil pipes were found in all catchments. The mean frequency of piping was 69 per kilometer of surveyed transect. Land management (moorland gripping) appears to exert the most important control on hillslope pipe frequency in blanket peats. Management practice in peatlands may therefore induce more rapid subsurface erosion, carbon loss and landform denudation via enhanced preferential flow. Topographic position is also important, with topslopes having greater pipe frequencies than footslopes, followed by midslopes with lowest frequencies. Slope gradient, however, is not a significant factor in controlling blanket peat pipe frequency. I propose that peat structural properties inherited from the way a blanket peat develops on a hillslope strongly control pipe network development. This is manifested in the way slope position appears to control pipe frequency. Aspect appears not to influence frequency in blanket peats except that it does play a weak role in catchments with annual precipitation less than 1500 mm. Here southwesterly-facing slopes tend to have more frequent piping

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Product newsEfficacy of Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine against HPV Infection and Disease in Males

Obstetrics & Gynaecology Forum • October 201

Efficacy of quadrivalent HPV vaccine against HPV Infection and disease in males.

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2014-12-09T19:20:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Giuliano AR Efficacy....pdf: 427095 bytes, checksum: 0157983b386757f031d1f55aa577498c (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2014-12-09T19:20:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Giuliano AR Efficacy....pdf: 427095 bytes, checksum: 0157983b386757f031d1f55aa577498c (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-09T19:44:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giuliano AR Efficacy....pdf: 427095 bytes, checksum: 0157983b386757f031d1f55aa577498c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011Risk Assessment, Detection. Tampa, FL / Intervention Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Tampa, FLUniversity of California San Francisco. Department of Medicine. San FranciscoMount Sinai School of Medicine. New YorkAssociação Obras Sociais Irmã Dulce. Salvador, BA, Brasil / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, BrasilInstituto de Investigación Nutricional. Lima, PeruUniversity Medical Center. National Institute of Public Health. Morelos, MexicoUniversity of the Witwatersrand. Faculty of Health Sciences. Ndlela Research and Clinical Trials Unit. Johannesburg, South AfricaOslo University Hospital. Faculty of Medicine. Olafia Sexually Transmitted Infections Clinic. OsloPrivate Clinic for Infectious Diseases. BerlinUniversity of Sydney. Sexually Transmitted Infections Research Centre. SydneyTaipei Veterans General Hospital. Division of Urology. Department of Surgery. Taipei, TaiwanMedical College of Georgia. AugustaCentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PACentre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. Montreal. North Wales, PA / Merck. North Wales, PABACKGROUND: Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) and diseases caused by HPV are common in boys and men. We report on the safety of a quadrivalent vaccine (active against HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18) and on its efficacy in preventing the development of external genital lesions and anogenital HPV infection in boys and men. METHODS: We enrolled 4065 healthy boys and men 16 to 26 years of age, from 18 countries in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. The primary efficacy objective was to show that the quadrivalent HPV vaccine reduced the incidence of external genital lesions related to HPV-6, 11, 16, or 18. Efficacy analyses were conducted in a per-protocol population, in which subjects received all three vaccinations and were negative for relevant HPV types at enrollment, and in an intention-to-treat population, in which subjects received vaccine or placebo, regardless of baseline HPV status. RESULTS: In the intention-to-treat population, 36 external genital lesions were seen in the vaccine group as compared with 89 in the placebo group, for an observed efficacy of 60.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 40.8 to 73.8); the efficacy was 65.5% (95% CI, 45.8 to 78.6) for lesions related to HPV-6, 11, 16, or 18. In the per-protocol population, efficacy against lesions related to HPV-6, 11, 16, or 18 was 90.4% (95% CI, 69.2 to 98.1). Efficacy with respect to persistent infection with HPV-6, 11, 16, or 18 and detection of related DNA at any time was 47.8% (95% CI, 36.0 to 57.6) and 27.1% (95% CI, 16.6 to 36.3), respectively, in the intention-to-treat population and 85.6% (97.5% CI, 73.4 to 92.9) and 44.7% (95% CI, 31.5 to 55.6) in the per-protocol population. Injection-site pain was significantly more frequent among subjects receiving quadrivalent HPV vaccine than among those receiving placebo (57% vs. 51%, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Quadrivalent HPV vaccine prevents infection with HPV-6, 11, 16, and 18 and the development of related external genital lesions in males 16 to 26 years of age. (Funded by Merck and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00090285.)