Interview with Dave Dellinger

In his February 1994 interviews with Ron Chepesiuk, Dave Dellinger revealed his view of his involvement during the anti-war movement. Dellinger was a non-violence activist and a leader of the anti-war movement of the 1960s. Dellinger discussed topics such as the sixties counterculture, Ho Chi Minh and their friendship, non-violence, self-esteem, drugs, the Chicago 7, Abbie Hoffman, and the legacy of the 1960s. Dellinger also discussed his views of activism of the 1990s, his view of the Clinton administration, the U.S. government and military, violence vs. non-violence, and the impact of the end of the Cold War on the anti-war movement. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/oralhistoryprogram/1066/thumbnail.jp

Akha : a transformational description

Akha is one of the better known of the lesser known Sino-Tibetan languages. As the case has been put in the Sino-Tibetan fascicles of Anthropological Linguistics, Sino-Tibetan is a cover term for a large number of languages showing strong grammatical affinities and lexical cognates

Ethics roundtable: Using new, expensive drugs

Costly genetically engineered therapies, which threaten to cripple the health care industry economy and undermine the common good if applied indiscriminately, loom on the horizon. The spectrum of applicable candidates include moribund nursing home patients at the end of life. They will be fair game for therapy that will ultimately send them back to nursing homes to return later with the same condition. 'Quality of life' assessments that limit patient autonomy may be forced as a result. Discussants from South Africa, New Zealand, and the USA suggest methods to deal with this issue in a just and ethical framework

Environmentally persistent free radicals decrease cardiac function before and after ischemia/reperfusion injury in vivo

Exposure to airborne particles is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. During the combustion of chlorine-containing hazardous materials and fuels, chlorinated hydrocarbons chemisorb to the surface of transition metal-oxide-containing particles, reduce the metal, and form an organic free radical. These radical-particle systems can survive in the environment for days and are called environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs). This study determined whether EPFRs could decrease left ventricular function before and after ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) in vivo. Male Brown-Norway rats were dosed (8mg/kg, intratracheal) 24h prior to testing with particles containing the EPFR of 1, 2-dichlorobenzene (DCB230). DCB230 treatment decreased systolic and diastolic function. DCB230 also produced pulmonary and cardiac inflammation. After ischemia, systolic, but not diastolic function was significantly decreased in DCB230-treated rats. Ventricular function was not affected by I/R in control rats. There was greater oxidative stress in the heart and increased 8-isoprostane (biomarker of oxidative stress) in the plasma of treated vs. control rats after I/R. These data demonstrate for the first time that DCB230 can produce inflammation and significantly decrease cardiac function at baseline and after I/R in vivo. Furthermore, these data suggest that EPFRs may be a risk factor for cardiac toxicity in healthy individuals and individuals with ischemic heart disease. Potential mechanisms involving cytokines/chemokines and/or oxidative stress are discussed. © 2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc

Timing of Invasive Mechanical Ventilation and Death in Critically Ill Adults With Covid-19: A Multicenter Cohort Study

PURPOSE: To investigate if the timing of initiation of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) for critically ill patients with COVID-19 is associated with mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data for this study were derived from a multicenter cohort study of critically ill adults with COVID-19 admitted to ICUs at 68 hospitals across the US from March 1 to July 1, 2020. We examined the association between early (ICU days 1-2) versus late (ICU days 3-7) initiation of IMV and time-to-death. Patients were followed until the first of hospital discharge, death, or 90 days. We adjusted for confounding using a multivariable Cox model. RESULTS: Among the 1879 patients included in this analysis (1199 male [63.8%]; median age, 63 [IQR, 53-72] years), 1526 (81.2%) initiated IMV early and 353 (18.8%) initiated IMV late. A total of 644 of the 1526 patients (42.2%) in the early IMV group died, and 180 of the 353 (51.0%) in the late IMV group died (adjusted HR 0.77 [95% CI, 0.65-0.93]). CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill adults with respiratory failure from COVID-19, early compared to late initiation of IMV is associated with reduced mortality