Dorothy Thornton to Mr. Meredith (3 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1187/thumbnail.jp

The search for liberty in the theatre of Alfonso Sastre

Alfonso Sastre, born in 1926, was a child during the Spanish Civil War. His temperament and personality were shaped by a Spain in the state of transition. He has seen coups d\u27états, dictatorship, a republic and monarchy. With each change of government Spain was searching for a way to unite her divided self, a self which had been divided since the Moors invaded Spain in the eighth century. Sastre has reflected Spain\u27s search for liberty and has produced what he calls a Theatre of Social Agitation, the fundamental theme of which is revolution. With this type of theatre Sastre proposes to stir the conscience of the Spanish people to the urgency of the need for social action. He expresses in his teatre a profound concern in finding a metaphor for modern man, man left face to face with himself . Man has been left in such a state because in rejecting God to become God Himself, he has cut himself off from his metaphysical and spiritual roots. Proponents of the God is dead philosophy stress that man must become God in order to create the society in which man can exist independently of God Almighty. Through his characters Alfonso Sastre questions man\u27s capacity to exist in a society blighted with social hypocrisy, political injustice, and moral corruption. Each of the protagonists in the plays selected for this thesis seeks to change the status quo through revolutionary means, because present conditions are interfering with his acceptance of his sense of self. The nature of the forces which restrict modern man has frustrated him to the point where he must either act or be annihilated

Motivating management: corporate compliance with safety, health and environmental regulation

Based on interviews with facility managers in the electroplating and chemical industries, this study examines regulated firms’ perceptions of how various instrumental, normative and social factors motivated their firms' safety, health and environmental actions. We found that ‘implicit general deterrence’ (the overall effect of sustained inspection and enforcement activity) was far more important than either specific or general deterrence, and that deterrence in any form was of far greater concern to small and medium sized enterprises than it was to large ones. Most reputation-sensitive firms in the chemical industry chose to go substantially beyond compliance for reasons that related to risk management and to the perceived need to protect their social license to operate. Almost half our respondents also provided normative explanations for why they complied. Overall, we conclude that there are various, often interwoven strands that must be taken into account in understanding what motivates corporate safety, health and environmental behavior, and how they play out depends very much on the size and sophistication of companies themselves and on the characteristics of the industry sector within which they are located

New Farms for Old.

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GROWING UP IN IRELAND. COHORT ’08 (Infant Cohort). Report on the Pilot for Wave Five of the Cohort ’08 Survey (at 9 Years of Age)

This report summarises the experience of the pilot fieldwork with the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort ’08 (formerly the Infant Cohort) at 9 years of age. This wave represents the fifth survey for this cohort who were first interviewed at age 9 months – and subsequently surveyed at 3, 5 and 7/8 years. It is also the first time that the younger cohort has reached an age where there was also data collection for Cohort ’98 (formerly the Child Cohort). The report is intended to inform data-users of the role played by the pilot process in informing the final instrumentation and procedures for the main phase of data collection

Heterogeneous N2O5 Uptake During Winter: Aircraft Measurements During the 2015 WINTER Campaign and Critical Evaluation of Current Parameterizations

Nocturnal dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) heterogeneous chemistry impacts regional air quality and the distribution and lifetime of tropospheric oxidants. Formed from the oxidation of nitrogen oxides, N2O5 is heterogeneously lost to aerosol with a highly variable reaction probability, γ(N2O5), dependent on aerosol composition and ambient conditions. Reaction products include soluble nitrate (HNO3 or NO3−) and nitryl chloride (ClNO2). We report the first‐ever derivations of γ(N2O5) from ambient wintertime aircraft measurements in the critically important nocturnal residual boundary layer. Box modeling of the 2015 Wintertime INvestigation of Transport, Emissions, and Reactivity (WINTER) campaign over the eastern United States derived 2,876 individual γ(N2O5) values with a median value of 0.0143 and range of 2 × 10−5 to 0.1751. WINTER γ(N2O5) values exhibited the strongest correlation with aerosol water content, but weak correlations with other variables, such as aerosol nitrate and organics, suggesting a complex, nonlinear dependence on multiple factors, or an additional dependence on a nonobserved factor. This factor may be related to aerosol phase, morphology (i.e., core shell), or mixing state, none of which are commonly measured during aircraft field studies. Despite general agreement with previous laboratory observations, comparison of WINTER data with 14 literature parameterizations (used to predict γ(N2O5) in chemical transport models) confirms that none of the current methods reproduce the full range of γ(N2O5) values. Nine reproduce the WINTER median within a factor of 2. Presented here is the first field‐based, empirical parameterization of γ(N2O5), fit to WINTER data, based on the functional form of previous parameterizations

A multi-centre, open label, randomised, parallel-group, superiority Trial to compare the efficacy of URsodeoxycholic acid with RIFampicin in the management of women with severe early onset Intrahepatic Cholestasis of pregnancy : the TURRIFIC randomised trial

BackgroundSevere early onset (less than 34weeks gestation) intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) affects 0.1% of pregnant women in Australia and is associated with a 3-fold increased risk of stillbirth, fetal hypoxia and compromise, spontaneous preterm birth, as well as increased frequencies of pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. ICP is often familial and overlaps with other cholestatic disorders.Treatment options for ICP are not well established, although there are limited data to support the use of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) to relieve pruritus, the main symptom. Rifampicin, a widely used antibiotic including in pregnant women, is effective in reducing pruritus in non-pregnancy cholestasis and has been used as a supplement to UDCA in severe ICP. Many women with ICP are electively delivered preterm, although there are no randomised data to support this approach.MethodsWe have initiated an international multicentre randomised clinical trial to compare the clinical efficacy of rifampicin tablets (300mg bd) with that of UDCA tablets (up to 2000mg daily) in reducing pruritus in women with ICP, using visual pruritus scores as a measuring tool.DiscussionOur study will be the first to examine the outcomes of treatment specifically in the severe early onset form of ICP, comparing "standard" UDCA therapy with rifampicin, and so be able to provide for the first-time high-quality evidence for use of rifampicin in severe ICP. It will also allow an assessment of feasibility of a future trial to test whether elective early delivery in severe ICP is beneficial.Trial identifiersAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registration Number (ANZCTR): 12618000332224p (29/08/2018). HREC No: HREC/18/WCHN/36.EudraCT number: 2018-004011-44.IRAS: 272398.NHMRC registration: APP1152418 and APP117853.Peer reviewe

Cytoplasmic CUG RNA Foci Are Insufficient to Elicit Key DM1 Features

The genetic basis of myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1) is the expansion of a CTG tract located in the 3′ untranslated region of DMPK. Expression of mutant RNAs encoding expanded CUG repeats plays a central role in the development of cardiac disease in DM1. Expanded CUG tracts form both nuclear and cytoplasmic aggregates, yet the relative significance of such aggregates in eliciting DM1 pathology is unclear. To test the pathophysiology of CUG repeat encoding RNAs, we developed and analyzed mice with cardiac-specific expression of a beta-galactosidase cassette in which a (CTG)400 repeat tract was positioned 3′ of the termination codon and 5′ of the bovine growth hormone polyadenylation signal. In these animals CUG aggregates form exclusively in the cytoplasm of cardiac cells. A key pathological consequence of expanded CUG repeat RNA expression in DM1 is aberrant RNA splicing. Abnormal splicing results from the functional inactivation of MBNL1, which is hypothesized to occur due to MBNL1 sequestration in CUG foci or from elevated levels of CUG-BP1. We therefore tested the ability of cytoplasmic CUG foci to elicit these changes. Aggregation of CUG RNAs within the cytoplasm results both in Mbnl1 sequestration and in approximately a two fold increase in both nuclear and cytoplasmic Cug-bp1 levels. Significantly, despite these changes RNA splice defects were not observed and functional analysis revealed only subtle cardiac dysfunction, characterized by conduction defects that primarily manifest under anesthesia. Using a human myoblast culture system we show that this transgene, when expressed at similar levels to a second transgene, which encodes expanded CTG tracts and facilitates both nuclear focus formation and aberrant splicing, does not elicit aberrant splicing. Thus the lack of toxicity of cytoplasmic CUG foci does not appear to be a consequence of low expression levels. Our results therefore demonstrate that the cellular location of CUG RNA aggregates is an important variable that influences toxicity and support the hypothesis that small molecules that increase the rate of transport of the mutant DMPK RNA from the nucleus into the cytoplasm may significantly improve DM1 pathology

Reducing depression in older home care clients: design of a prospective study of a nurse-led interprofessional mental health promotion intervention

Abstract Background Very little research has been conducted in the area of depression among older home care clients using personal support services. These older adults are particularly vulnerable to depression because of decreased cognition, comorbid chronic conditions, functional limitations, lack of social support, and reduced access to health services. To date, research has focused on collaborative, nurse-led depression care programs among older adults in primary care settings. Optimal management of depression among older home care clients is not currently known. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of a 6-month nurse-led, interprofessional mental health promotion intervention aimed at older home care clients with depressive symptoms using personal support services. Methods/Design This one-group pre-test post-test study aims to recruit a total of 250 long-stay (> 60 days) home care clients, 70 years or older, with depressive symptoms who are receiving personal support services through a home care program in Ontario, Canada. The nurse-led intervention is a multi-faceted 6-month program led by a Registered Nurse that involves regular home visits, monthly case conferences, and evidence-based assessment and management of depression using an interprofessional approach. The primary outcome is the change in severity of depressive symptoms from baseline to 6 months using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies in Depression Scale. Secondary outcomes include changes in the prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety, health-related quality of life, cognitive function, and the rate and appropriateness of depression treatment from baseline to 12 months. Changes in the costs of use of health services will be assessed from a societal perspective. Descriptive and qualitative data will be collected to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and identify barriers and facilitators to implementation. Discussion Data collection began in May 2010 and is expected to be completed by July 2012. A collaborative nurse-led strategy may provide a feasible, acceptable and effective means for improving the health of older home care clients by improving the prevention, recognition, and management of depression in this vulnerable population. The challenges involved in designing a practical, transferable and sustainable nurse-led intervention in home care are also discussed. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT0140792