The Dualities of Endurance: A Collaborative Historical Archaeology of Ethnogenesis at Brothertown, 1780-1910

The Brothertown Indian community formed in the late 18th century when segments of several tribal groups from coastal northeastern North America broke away from their home settlements to move west together. What united the community was a shared belief in Christianity, a dedication to practices of agriculture, and hopes of escaping the land politics and corrupting influences of colonial culture on the East Coast. This dissertation investigates the ethnogenesis, evolution, and endurance of the Brothertown Indian community from the perspective of collaborative historical archaeology. In doing so, it aims to reassess theories of culture, identity, and discourse in the modern postcolonial world, and to incorporate archaeological data into the study of Brothertown history. In order to accomplish these goals, this dissertation analyzes historical documents, cemeteries, and settlement patterns using theories of practice and pragmatics. The results of these analyses reveal the ways in which several tribal groups joined together to form a new type of Native community and negotiate colonial politics, specifically the roles that linguistic, material culture, and spatial discourses played in these processes. Certain discourses challenged dominant schemes of social classification, obfuscating categories such as “Indian” and “White,” but also had pragmatic impacts within the Brothertown community that shaped memory processes, conceptions of personhood and identity, and overall communal structures. This study concludes that instances of ethnogenesis hinge upon insiders and outsiders continually negotiating social boundaries via words, things, and spaces. It rejects dichotomous frameworks of cultural change that classify materials and practices solely in terms of their origins for more complex considerations of the long-term, pragmatic results of such entanglements

Strain Measurement on Composites: Errors due to Rosette Misalignment

Electrical resistance strain gauges are increasingly used for the determination of the strain field in composite components. The effect of the angular misalignment of a strain gauge rosette on the determination of the strains in a composite material is investigated in this paper. The theoretical analysis shows that the strain error along the principal material directions depends on the difference of principal strains, on the angular misalignment of the rosette and on the angle between the maximum principal strain and the fibre direction. The paper also shows experimental evidence for the theoretical analysis

TTF-1/p63-positive poorly differentiated NSCLC: A histogenetic hypothesis from the basal reserve cell of the terminal respiratory unit

TTF-1 is expressed in the alveolar epithelium and in the basal cells of distal terminal bronchioles. It is considered the most sensitive and specific marker to define the adenocarcinoma arising from the terminal respiratory unit (TRU). TTF-1, CK7, CK5/6, p63 and p40 are useful for typifying the majority of non-small-cell lung cancers, with TTF and CK7 being typically expressed in adenocarcinomas and the latter three being expressed in squamous cell carcinoma. As tumors with coexpression of both TTF-1 and p63 in the same cells are rare, we describe different cases that coexpress them, suggesting a histogenetic hypothesis of their origin. We report 10 cases of poorly differentiated non-small-cell lung carcinoma (PD-NSCLC). Immunohistochemistry was performed by using TTF-1, p63, p40 (∆Np63), CK5/6 and CK7. EGFR and BRAF gene mutational analysis was performed by using real-time PCR. All the cases showed coexpression of p63 and TTF-1. Six of them showing CK7+ and CK5/6− immunostaining were diagnosed as “TTF-1+ p63+ adenocarcinoma”. The other cases of PD-NSCLC, despite the positivity for CK5/6, were diagnosed as “adenocarcinoma, solid variant”, in keeping with the presence of TTF-1 expression and p40 negativity. A “wild type” genotype of EGFR was evidenced in all cases. TTF1 stained positively the alveolar epithelium and the basal reserve cells of TRU, with the latter also being positive for p63. The coexpression of p63 and TTF-1 could suggest the origin from the basal reserve cells of TRU and represent the capability to differentiate towards different histogenetic lines. More aggressive clinical and morphological features could characterize these “basal-type tumors” like those in the better known “basal-like” cancer of the breast

Differential Somatic Cell Count as a Marker for Changes of Milk Composition in Cows with Very Low Somatic Cell Count

The recent availability of a high-throughput milk analyzer performing a partial differential somatic cell count (DSCC) opened new opportunities in investigations on bovine udder health. This analyzer has a potential limitation on the accuracy of measurements when the somatic cell count (SCC) is below 50,000 cells/mL, values characterizing a good proportion of lactating cows in many herds. We obtained data for cows below this threshold, assessed the repeatability of these measurements and investigated the relationship between DSCC and udder health, milk composition and yield. Overall, 3022 cow milk test records performed on a Fossomatic™ 7/DC (Foss A/S, Hillerød, Denmark) were considered; 901 of them had an SCC ≤ 50,000 cells/mL. These latter samples were analyzed by qPCR to identify the presence of bacteria. Overall, 20.75% of the samples (187) were positive. However, the health status did not have any significant association with DSCC. The analysis of the association of DSCC on milk fat, protein and casein showed a significant decrease in their proportions as the DSCC increased, whereas it was not observed for milk yield and lactose. Therefore, DSCC in very low SCC cows may be suggested as a marker to identify early changes in milk composition

Cross-sectional study on the prevalence of contagious pathogens in bulk tank milk and their effects on somatic cell counts and milk yield

Data on the prevalence of major contagious pathogens in bulk tank milk (BTM) in Italy are generally not available. The availability of Real-Time PCR procedures (qPCR) to perform BTM analysis by represents an important step to define herd health status. Therefore, a cross-sectional epidemiological study was designed to assess the prevalence of contagious pathogens and Prototheca spp in BTM samples. The study was performed on 581 herds from four districts in the west Lombardy region of Italy. Additionally, the relationship between pathogens in BTM and SCC or milk yield; the presence of an association between four risk factors (district, herd size, average milk yield and SCC) with pathogens in BTM were assessed. The overall data showed that S. aureus was recovered in 42% of the herds, Str. agalactiae in 10%, Prototheca spp in 11% and M. bovis in 1.5% of the herds. The GLM model applied showed a significant influence of BTM results, district, herd size and their interactions on SCC and on milk yield variance. Particularly, S. aureus or Str. agalactiae have a significant effect on milk yield variability and, in a lesser extent, on SCC. The very high prevalence of contagious pathogens significantly affects milk characteristics and yield, thus affecting economic sustainability of the herds, and suggests the need to implement control programmes to decrease the prevalence of contagious pathogens, This will also allow to decrease the use of antimicrobials and to improve cow welfare

Long QT syndrome and torsade de pointes after anthracycline chemotherapy

Anthracycline chemotherapy, which represents the treatment of choice for many hematologic and metastatic cancers, unfortunately carries with it the possibility of both early cardiotoxic phenomena, occuring during chemotherapy, and also late cardiotoxic manifestations, occuring even months or years from the completion of treatment

QTc prolongation assessment in anticancer drug development: clinical and methodological issues

Cardiac safety assessments are commonly employed in the clinical development of investigational oncology medications. In anti-cancer drug development there has been increasing consideration for the potential of a compound to cause adverse electrocardiographic changes, especially QT interval prolongation, which can be associated with risk of torsades de pointes and sudden death. Irrespective of overt clinical toxicities, QTc assessment can potentially influence decision making at many levels during the conduct of clinical studies, including eligibility for protocol therapy, dose delivery or discontinuation, and analyses of optimal dose for subsequent development. Given the potential for serious and irreversible morbidity from cardiac adverse events, it is understandable that cardiac safety results can have broad impact on study conduct and patient management. The methodologies for risk management of QTc prolongation for non cardiac drugs have been developed out of experiences primarily from drugs used to treat non life-threatening illnesses in a chronic setting such as antibiotics or antihistamines. Extrapolating these approaches to drugs for treating cancer over an acute period may not be appropriate. Few specific guidelines are available for risk management of cardiac safety in the development and use of oncology drugs. In this manuscript, clinical and methodological issues related to QTc prolongation assessment will be reviewed. Discussions about limitations in phase-I design and oncology drug development will be highlighted. Efforts are needed to refine strategies for risk management, avoiding unintended consequences that negatively affect patient access and clinical development of promising new cancer treatments. A thoughtful risk management plan generated by an organized collaboration between oncologists, cardiologists, and regulatory agencies to support a development programme essential for oncology agents with cardiac safety concerns

Assessment of subclinical mastitis diagnostic accuracy by differential cell count in individual cow milk

The progressive decrease of mean SCC in dairy herds worldwide is affecting SCC accuracy as a subclinical mastitis marker. This evidence supports studies aiming to apply differential cell count (DSCC) as a tool to identify mastitis. Two of the major obstacles to apply DSCC were the unavailability of high-throughput milk analysers and the cost of these analyses. Recently availability of high-throughput milk analysers, able to perform a partial DSCC on milk, allowed designing a study aiming to identify subclinical mastitis in individual milk samples. This paper reports the result of this first Italian study performed under field conditions. The study considered 4386 milk test records from four dairy herds with different size, management and milking management. DSCC data were analysed by ROC procedure. This procedure allows identifying the threshold giving the highest accuracy and the highest combined value for sensitivity and specificity, among all the possible thresholds. Among the different ways used to classify milk samples, the analysis applied to days in milk (three classes) showed the highest mean values for sensitivity plus specificity, and the value for accuracy was very close to the highest one observed. At the time of submission, this is the first paper available on peer-reviewed scientific journals reporting the evaluation of DSCC as a marker for subclinical mastitis on individual milk samples collected during routine milk test. The results will help the improvement of mastitis diagnosis and will help dairy farmers to increase the levels of herd management and efficiency.Highlights At the time of submission, this is the first paper available on peer-reviewed scientific journals on the evaluation of DSCC as a marker for subclinical mastitis on individual milk samples. The analysis of data showed as DSCC has not consistent performances, confirming the presence of confounding factors such as parity and days in milk. The thresholds calculated on samples classified by days in milk (three classes) showed to have the overall best test performances with an accuracy of 82.3%