The Language of Sport: Understanding Chile and Chilenidad through Marathon Races and Fútbol Games

This project offers a new perspective for understanding the country and culture of Chile by examining the messages embedded in sport competitions. I will first detail the success of distance runner Manuel Plaza in his second-place finish at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, and analyze how Plaza’s success at an international competition was adopted and interpreted to represent the entrance of Chile into modern and Western society. I will then discuss the struggle between different sections of Chilean society to create and monopolize the master narrative of the events that took place following the military coup of 1973. This section will demonstrate how sporting symbols like the National Stadium, World Cup, and Chilean national futbol team were used as the battleground to propagate these conflicting narratives. This project aims to understand how definitions of chilenidad, or Chilean identity, have evolved over time, and explore the intersection of chilenidad and sport. Drawing upon historical, political, and literary frameworks, this project advocates for the continued study of sport within the field of area studies, in order to learn from the cultural significance that sport carries

The Fourth Color

This thesis centers around short stories based on the student\u27s favorite author, David Sedaris. Sedaris is a modern humor essayist who uses experiences from his daily life to create vivid, “real-ish” stories to entertain his readers. In nursing and in life, there are interesting tales to be told. The following stories are imaginative events that are based on the author’s personal experiences. Stories about family, coming of age, reflections on life, and fictional recounts of time spent working odd jobs in the hospital are all divided into five themes—the human experience, making the best of it, loss, darkness, and light. These stories are written in the style of Sedaris to show that no matter what education or formal training one has, everybody has a story to tell. Additionally, these stories show the therapeutic value of writing in nursing

Fate of Nitrogen and Effectiveness of Evaporation on Managing Leachate in Collection and Storage Ponds: A Case Study at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority Regional Landfill

Treatment of leachate from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills can be complex and difficult, due to the variety of contaminants present. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the fate of nitrogen and effectiveness of leachate evaporation in a leachate storage and collection pond at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority (TRSWA) MSW landfill in Jackson, South Carolina. This was accomplished by determining the fate of nitrogen species in the pond, exploring effect of the site’s Lilypad droplet sprayer system on ammonia-nitrogen, and exploring potential to reduce overall quantity of leachate to be treated through evaporation from the pond. Leachate evaporation was determined via two methods: a water balance of the pond and a model developed to account for site climatological and operational parameters, including the site’s use of a droplet sprayer system to enhance evaporation from the pond. Results from the evaporation study suggest that the droplet sprayer system resulted in 2.5 to 3.2 times more evaporation than would occur naturally, and further enhancement could be possible through modifications to the system’s operation, such as increasing the nighttime basket capacity above the current 26%. Increasing nighttime capacity to 50% of maximum speed and flow is expected to increase the total evaporation by 23%. The fate of nitrogen species in the pond was also explored, and a model was developed and used to determine amounts of volatilization, nitrification, and denitrification occurring in the pond. Overall, results indicate that nitrogen transformation was occurring iv in the pond. The model indicated that volatilization was the predominant process by which nitrogen was transformed, but that nitrification and denitrification were also occurring in the pond during much of the study. The use of the droplet sprayer system resulted in increased volatilization, depending on the amount of liquid passing through the system each day. During the study, approximately 36% of volatilization was due to the Lilypad system. Increasing the volume of liquid that passes through the system would be expected to increase volatilization. A study on the relationship between pH, temperature, and volatilization was also undertaken and indicated that increasing the pH of the leachate collection and storage pond would result in increased levels of ammonia-nitrogen volatilization, but that adjustment would be most efficient if done in the warmer months

Fluoxetine Increases GABA A Receptor Activity through a Novel Modulatory Site

ABSTRACT Fluoxetine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor used widely in the treatment of depression. In contrast to the proconvulsant effect of many antidepressants, fluoxetine has anticonvulsant activity. This property may be due in part to positive modulation of the GABA A receptors (GABARs), which mediate most fast inhibitory neurotransmission in the mammalian brain. We examined the effect of fluoxetine on the activity of recombinant GABARs transiently expressed in mammalian cells. Fluoxetine increased the response of the receptor to submaximal GABA concentrations but did not alter the maximum current amplitude. Sensitivity did not depend upon the ␤-or ␥-subtype composition of the receptor when coexpressed with the ␣ 1 subunit. Among the six ␣ subtypes, only the ␣ 5 subunit conferred reduced sensitivity to fluoxetine. The metabolite norfluoxetine was even more potent than fluoxetine. Mutations at residues in the ␣ 5 subunit that alter its sensitivity to zinc or selective benzodiazepine derivatives did not affect potentiation by fluoxetine. This suggests that fluoxetine acts through a novel modulatory site on the GABAR. The direct positive modulation of GABARs by fluoxetine may be a factor in its anticonvulsant activity

Iatrogenic intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernia diagnosed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernias are very uncommon and are most typically caused by high-force blunt trauma. Other iatrogenic causes such as prior surgical formation of a pericardial window have been described, but are exceedingly rare. We present a case of an intrapericardial diaphragmatic hernia in a patient with a prior pericardial window in which the diagnosis was unclear using conventional imaging modalities, but was established using cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Cardiac dysfunction in cancer survivors unmasked during exercise

Introduction: The cardiac dysfunction associated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy cancer treatment can exist sub-clinically for decades before overt presentation. Stress echocardiography, the measurement of left ventricular (LV) deformation and arterial haemodynamic evaluation have separately been used to identify sub-clinical cardiovascular (CV) dysfunction in several patient groups including those with hypertension and diabetes. The purpose of the present cross-sectional study was to determine whether the combination of these techniques could be used to improve the characterisation of sub-clinical CV dysfunction in long-term cancer survivors previously treated with anthracyclines. Materials and methods: Thirteen long-term cancer survivors (36±10 years) with prior anthracycline exposure (11±8 years post-treatment) and 13 age-matched controls were recruited. Left ventricular structure, function and deformation were assessed using echocardiography. Augmentation index was used to quantify arterial haemodynamic load and was measured using applanation tonometry. Measurements were taken at rest and during two stages of low-intensity incremental cycling.Results: At rest, both groups had comparable global LV systolic, diastolic and arterial function (all P>0.05), however longitudinal deformation was significantly lower in cancer survivors (-18±2 v -20±2, P<0.05). During exercise this difference between groups persisted and further differences were uncovered with significantly lower apical circumferential deformation in the cancer survivors (-24±5 v -29±5, -29±5 v 35±8 for first and second stage of exercise respectively, both P<0.05). Conclusion: In contrast to resting echocardiography the measurement of LV deformation at rest and during exercise provides a more comprehensive characterisation of sub-clinical LV dysfunction. Larger studies are required to determine the clinical relevance of these preliminary findings

Remote Ischemic Pre-Conditioning Attenuates Adverse Cardiac Remodeling and Mortality Following Doxorubicin Administration in Mice

Objectives Because of its multifaceted cardioprotective effects, remote ischemic pre-conditioning (RIPC) was examined as a strategy to attenuate doxorubicin (DOX) cardiotoxicity. Background The use of DOX is limited by dose-dependent cardiotoxicity and heart failure. Oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, and autophagy modulation have been proposed as mediators of DOX cardiotoxicity. Methods After baseline echocardiography, adult male CD1 mice were randomized to either sham or RIPC protocol (3 cycles of 5 min femoral artery occlusion followed by 5 min reperfusion) 1 h before receiving DOX (20 mg/kg, intraperitoneal). The mice were observed primarily for survival over 85 days (86 mice). An additional cohort of 50 mice was randomized to either sham or RIPC 1 h before DOX treatment and was followed for 25 days, at which time cardiac fibrosis, apoptosis, and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation were assessed, as well as the expression profiles of apoptosis and autophagy markers. Results Survival was significantly improved in the RIPC cohort compared with the sham cohort (p = 0.007). DOX-induced cardiac fibrosis and apoptosis were significantly attenuated with RIPC compared with sham (p \u3c 0.05 and p \u3c 0.001, respectively). Although no mitochondrial dysfunction was detected at 25 days, there was a significant increase in autophagy markers with DOX that was attenuated with RIPC. Moreover, DOX caused a 49% decline in cardiac BCL2/BAX expression, which was restored with RIPC (p \u3c 0.05 vs. DOX). DOX also resulted in a 17% reduction in left ventricular mass at 25 days, which was prevented with RIPC (p \u3c 0.01), despite the lack of significant changes in left ventricular ejection fraction. Conclusions Our preclinical results suggested that RIPC before DOX administration might be a promising approach for attenuating DOX cardiotoxicity

CMOS-Integrated Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators for Label-Free Biosensing

The throughput is an important parameter for label-free biosensors. Acoustic resonators like the quartz crystal microbalance have a low throughput because the number of sensors which can be used at the same time is limited. Here we present an array of 64 CMOS-integrated film bulk acoustic resonators. We compare the performance with surface plasmon resonance and the quartz crystal microbalance and demonstrate the performance of the sensor for multiplexed detection of DNA