Going native: long-running television serials in the UK

This article examines in detail the development of the long-running serial in the UK, from its beginnings on radio in the 1940s, through the move to television in the mid 1950s and then up to the present day. It pays particular attention to language use throughout this period, focusing on the move from Standard English to a wide range of regional dialects during the four decades when these serials were at the height of their popularity, routinely dominating the television ratings. It then examines the development of long-form serials in languages other than English, firstly Welsh from the mid 1970s on, and then Gaelic intermittently from the early 1990s to the present day, and finally Scots, a highly minoritised Germanic language spoken mostly in the Scottish Lowlands. It compares both the current health and the future prospects of Gaelic and Scots with a particular focus on the challenges faced by both. Additional insights into the particular case of Gaelic are provided via interviews with a number of stakeholders

On the presence in bone marrow of an active principle of value in the treatment of some skin affections: a clinical and therapeutic study

My object in this thesis is to submit evidence in favour of the view that the bone marrow contains a substance of distinct therapeutic value in the treatment of some common skin affections. The clinical records submitted as evidence, have been collected in the course of the past three years (1901-1903). The ideas which led to the investigations may be shortly stated in a few introductory remarks. Introduction, In the course of six months daily observation of skin affections in the In and Outpatient Department of the Royal Infirmary in 1895-6 I was led to doubt the correctness of the commonly accepted teaching as to the purely local origin of many cutaneous affections. Observation of cases in the wards convinced me that in the great majority of ordinary skin affection a careful general medical examination of the cases from the standpoint of the general physician revealed facts of importance re the etiology of the disease, A study of the temperature chart, noting carefully sub-normal variations as well as elevations of temperature, observation of the general and particularly of the cutaneous circulation in the affected and unaffected areas of the skin, and the amount and character of the renal and alvine discharges were the special points to which attention was directed. Temperature variations, a defective capillary reaction of the skin sometimes with constriction of the radial arteries, and a deficient amount of urinary and alvine discharge with marked foetor of the latter, were very frequently observed and these symptoms usually improved or disappeared coincidentally with the disappearance of the skin eruption. These facts strengthened my belief that the system of regarding skin affections as primary diseases of the skin was an erroneous one; and they prepared the way for enquiry to determine the accuracy of this view. An appropriate line of investigation was suggested to me by two facts learned some years ago. In 1897 I had under my care a factory girl affected with chronic and severe palmar eczema. She had been uni der treatment as an Outpatient in the Skin Department of the Royal Infirmary for three months in which time several of the usual remedies had been tried without material benefit. For a few weeks I tried some variations in local treatment that suggested themselves after careful perusal of the prescriptions which she had received at the Royal Infirmary. These were equally unsuccessful, and I lost sight of the the patient. About a year afterwards I was informed by a friend of the patient that the hands had ultimately been completely cured as the result of 'an old wife's remedy' the use of marrow from a bone. At a personal interview later the patient informed me that recovery had taken place within a very few days of the commencement of this treatment. The marrow preparation was obtained by boiling a bone, and skimming off the fat which was rubbed into the affected part. A further point which came under my notice about this time impressed me considerably. I was the engaged in an investigation on the articular changes in animals in rheumatism and allied conditions. This investigation was largely carried out at the 'Knackeries' at Loanhead, and in the course of it I examined over two hundred subjects; in a little more than one half of this series I examined the local and general condition of the animal just before death, and in all of them I studied the appearances of the organs and tissues very soon after the animals were killed. The most outstanding feature in the post-mortem examination was the altered state of the bone marrow. It was found that this structure was often profoundly altered even in cases in which the viscera and joint structures were relatively normal. The changes in the marrow were mainly those of a 'leucoblastic' nature, with in many instances gelatinous degeneration. The naked eye appearances were similar to those which have since been fully described by Muir as present in man in various infections. These facts learned five years ago, led me to entertain the view that the bone marrow had some physiological and therapeutic properties of a nature previously unknown. In broad outline my theory is that the bone marrow produces an internal secretion of vital importance in the economy; that this substance assists in the prophylaxis against the injurious action of various bacteria which in health exist as saprophytes indifferent tissues; and that its defective production is liable to be followed by a pathogenic action of these same microorganisms. The results of this pathogenic acting vary much in different subjects, in accordance with the all important factor of individual reaction. As the main sites of these bacteria are the respiratory tract, skin, alimentary tract, and vagina, it follows that diseases will be more or less directly associated with one or more of these surfaces as the main source of infection. I therefore determined to test the value of a preparation of bone marrow in as many skin cases as possible. The preparation employed was an ethereal extract, made as follows:- - Marrow was taken from fresh long bones of an ox, great care being required in the selection of the bones (see p. 77 ); it is then extracted with ether for about thirty-six hours, the ethereal extract being evaporated down in the open, A solid fat remains which has a characteristic odour. One per cent Chloretone is added for purposes of preservation. (The initial therapeutic experiments were carried out with freshly made preparations to which no preservative was added). My investigations have been limited to the use of this particular preparation of bone marrow. My object in every instance has been to introduce this substance into the circulation through the raw or abraded surface, usually over a limited part of the affected area. As a preliminary, the cutaneous circulation was excited by means of bathing with hot water, in order to facilitate absorption.) In nearly all the cases the treatment was carried out by myself or under my immediate supervision; a considerable amount of time and trouble being necessary for an efficient trial of the treatment. As far as possible cases were obtained which, had proved refractory to ordinary treatment, and in view of the well-known fact that j some skin affections occasionally undergo spontaneous cure in a remarkable manner, control observations such as are fully described on p.18 were frequently made in order to minimise the risks of fallacy in the deduction. My sole objects in these investigations was to determine whether this preparation of marrow possessed some therapeutic property; I am not concerned with a detailed comparison with the results obtained by other forms of treatment. The first two records, those of Lupus and Psoriasis, are given in full detail as they illustrate clearly the care necessary to obtain a suitable preparation of the marrow and the careful oversight required in the use of the remedy, The remaining cases are summarised. With two or three exceptions none of the cases were indoor patients and on this account the records from the point of view of the general medical bearings of the cases, are incomplete. On the conclusion of the clinical records some notes will be added referring to: I. The preparation of marrow used (Myelocene). II, Results of attempts to ascertain the exact chemical composition of marrow which yielded a therapeutically active substance, and marrow which was not therapeutically active. Ill, The evidence of the existence of an active therapeutic substance in the preparation of bone marrow used, (Myelocene)

¿Qué tienen las asociaciones de la sociedad civil que promueven la democracia?

El autor analiza las asociaciones de la sociedad civil y su efecto como fuerzas democratizantes, desde el punto de vista de metas, estructuras internas, nexos con otros organismos, diversidad y multiplicidad, así como la distribución de los distintos tipos de asociaciones, y los patrones de cambio ante nuevos retos. Concluye afirmando que aunque las asociaciones no son una panacea para promover la democracia, aparentemente sí acompañan su crecimiento y forman parte de cualquier sistema moderno.The author analyzes associations in civil society and their effect as democratizing forces, from the point of view of goals, internal structures, links with other organisms, diversity and multiplicity, as well as and the distribution of the different kinds of associations, and the patterns of change before new challenges. He concludes that although associations are not a panacea to promote democracy, apparently they do accompany its growth and are part of any modern system

L-carnitine supplementation in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUNDNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) dominates the landscape of modern hepatology. Affecting 25% of the general population, there is critical unmet need to identify broadly available, safe and cost-effective treatments. Cumulative evidence in animal and human models suggests that intrahepatic and skeletal muscle fatty acid oxidation is impaired in NAFLD, such that lipid accretion is not matched by efficient utilisation. L-carnitine is a crucial mediator of fatty acid metabolism in vivo, promoting mitochondrial lipid β-oxidation and enhancing tissue metabolic flexibility. These physiological properties have generated research interest in L-carnitine as a potentially effective adjunctive therapy in NAFLD.AIMTo systematically review randomised trials reporting effects of dietary L-carnitine supplementation on liver biochemistry, liver fat and insulin sensitivity in NAFLD.METHODSSearch strategies, eligibility criteria and analytic methods were specified a priori (PROSPERO reference: CRD42018107063). Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched from their inception until April 2019. Outcome measures included serum concentrations of alanine and aspartate aminotransferase (ALT and AST), liver fat and insulin sensitivity assessed by the homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). A random effects meta-analysis was performed for, ALT, AST and HOMA-IR measures separately. Between-study heterogeneity was measured using I2 statistics.RESULTSFive eligible randomised trials were included in the qualitative and quantitative synthesis (n = 338). All of the 5 included trials assessed the effect of L-carnitine on serum ALT, identified from Italy, South Korea and Iran. Weighted mean difference (WMD) for ALT between L-carnitine and control groups after intervention was -25.34 IU/L [95%CI: -41.74-(-8.94); P = 0.002]. WMD for AST between L-carnitine and control groups was -13.68 IU/L (95%CI: -28.26-0.89; P = 0.066). In three studies (n = 204), HOMA-IR was evaluated. WMD for HOMA-IR between L-carnitine and control groups was -0.74 units [95%CI: -1.02-(-0.46); P < 0.001]. Two studies using validated outcome measures reported a significant reduction in liver fat in L-carnitine vs control groups post-intervention (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONPooled results indicate that L-carnitine supplementation attenuates ALT, liver fat and insulin resistance in NAFLD cohorts, confirming a beneficial effect of L-carnitine for a highly prevalent condition with a growing economic burden

The floods: Where do we go from here?

"Support, recovery and lessons learned" from 2015 Cumbria floods. Two months on from devastating flooding in the county various key figures and leaders give their responses to the next stage of recovery, including looking towards strategic solutions for flood prevention

Open N=2 strings in a B-field background and noncommutative self-dual Yang-Mills

In the presence of D-branes, fermionic N=2 strings in 2+2 dimensions can be coupled to a K"ahler NS-NS two-form B. We present the corresponding action which produces N=2 supersymmetric boundary conditions and discuss the Seiberg-Witten zero-slope limit. After recalling the constraints on the Chan-Paton gauge group, we demonstrate for U(n) groups that the open N=2 string with a nonzero B-field coincides on tree level with noncommutative self-dual Yang-Mills. Several misconceptions of hep-th/0011206 are corrected.Comment: 10 pages, no figures, LaTe

Superconformal hypermultiplets in superspace

We use the manifestly N=2 supersymmetric, off-shell, harmonic (or twistor) superspace approach to solve the constraints implied by four-dimensional N=2 superconformal symmetry on the N=2 non-linear sigma-model target space, known as the special hyper-K"ahler geometry. Our general solution is formulated in terms of a homogeneous (of degree two) function of unconstrained (analytic) Fayet-Sohnius hypermultiplet superfields. We also derive the improved (N=2 superconformal) actions for the off-shell (constrained) N=2 projective hypermultiplets, and relate them (via non-conformal deformations) to the asymptotically locally-flat (ALF) A_k and D_k series of the gravitational instantons. The same metrics describe Kaluza-Klein monopoles in M-theory, while they also arise in the quantum moduli spaces of N=4 supersymmetric gauge field theories with SU(2) gauge group and matter hypermultiplets in three spacetime dimensions. We comment on rotational isometries versus translational isometries in the context of N=2 NLSM in terms of projective hypermultiplets.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX; minor improvements, to appear in Nucl. Phys.