DANNELSE OG HUMANISTISK ETIK I ØST OG VEST CA. 900-1100

ABSTRACTReceptionen af antikken bliver tillagt stor betydning i forskningen omkring intellektuelle miljøer i såvel Vesteuropa, Byzans og den islamiske verden. I denne forbindelse understreges signifikansen af antikke værker ofte som forbillede for højere litterær dannelse. Imidlertid bliver lighederne i disse kulturers fokus i deres overtagelse af antikke idealer sjældent berørt i samtidig forskning. Dette på trods af, at humanisme på det nærmeste bliver anvendt som et slagord til at beskrive de lærde miljøer i forskningen til 900- og 1000-tallet.I det følgende vil jeg forsøge at fremhæve lighederne i overtagelsen af antikke idealer i de lærde miljøer i de tre kulturer med fokus på det etiske aspekt, hvor såvel kontinuitet og integration af den antikke arv i uddannelsestraditionen samt interkulturel kontakt er signifikant. Snarere end at give en fiks og færdig forklaring på lighederne vil jeg blot anføre eksempler på ligheder og dermed anspore til, at spørgsmålet om kulturel interaktion undersøges nærmere. Dette kunne måske bidrage til at få et mere nuanceret billede af årsagerne til det ændrede fokus i curriculum i Vesteuropa fra 950 hen imod en mere verdslig og antik influerettilgang

DEN NYE HISTORIESKRIVNING I 900-TALLET: Kirkelige autoriteter som forbilleder og vejledere

Med Liudprand af Cremonas værk Antapodosis blomstrede historieskrivningen op efter en 50-årig stilstandsperiode i det østfrankiske rige. Samtidig skete et skift i den foretrukne historiske genre. Nu tog forfatterne udgangspunkt i individet i stedet for årets begivenheder. Endda var disse forfattere på hver deres vis nyskabende. Forklaringen på nyudviklinger inden for historieskrivningen bør søges i 900-tallets konventioner for tekstfremstilling, dvs. anerkendt viden om forfatterpraksis. Liudprand tog den lærde autoritet Rather af Verona som sit tekstlige forbillede. Med afsæt i Rathers værk Praeloquia og Liudprands Antapodosis undersøger artiklen forfatternes repræsentation, konstruktion og reception af viden om forfatterpraksis og betydningen heraf for historisk fremstilling

Sentinel surveillance and epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile in Denmark, 2016 to 2019

BACKGROUND: Since 2008, Danish national surveillance of Clostridioides difficile has focused on binary toxin-positive strains in order to monitor epidemic types such as PCR ribotype (RT) 027 and 078. Additional surveillance is needed to provide a more unbiased representation of all strains from the clinical reservoir. AIM: Setting up a new sentinel surveillance scheme for an improved understanding of type distribution relative to time, geography and epidemiology, here presenting data from 2016 to 2019. METHODS: For 2─4 weeks in spring and autumn each year between 2016 and 2019, all 10 Danish Departments of Clinical Microbiology collected faecal samples containing toxigenic C. difficile. Isolates were typed at the national reference laboratory at Statens Serum Institut. The typing method in 2016–17 used tandem-repeat-sequence typing, while the typing method in 2018–19 was whole genome sequencing. RESULTS: During the study period, the sentinel surveillance scheme included ca 14–15% of all Danish cases of C. difficile infections. Binary toxin-negative strains accounted for 75% and 16 of the 20 most prevalent types. The most common sequence types (ST) were ST2/13 (RT014/020) (19.5%), ST1 (RT027) (10.8%), ST11 (RT078) (6.7%), ST8 (RT002) (6.6%) and ST6 (RT005/117) (5.1%). The data also highlighted geographical differences, mostly related to ST1 and temporal decline of ST1 (p = 0.0008) and the increase of ST103 (p = 0.002), ST17 (p = 0.004) and ST37 (p = 0.003), the latter three binary toxin-negative. CONCLUSION: Sentinel surveillance allowed nationwide monitoring of geographical differences and temporal changes in C. difficile infections in Denmark, including emerging types, regardless of binary toxin status

Validation of the Rome III criteria for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome in secondary care

BACKGROUND & AIMS: There are few validation studies of existing diagnostic criteria for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). We conducted a validation study of the Rome and Manning criteria in secondary care. METHODS: We collected complete symptom, colonoscopy, and histology data from 1848 consecutive adult patients with gastrointestinal symptoms at 2 hospitals in Hamilton, Ontario; the subjects then underwent colonoscopy. Assessors were blinded to symptom status. Individuals with normal colonoscopy and histopathology results, and no evidence of celiac disease, were classified as having no organic gastrointestinal disease. The reference standard used to define the presence of true IBS was lower abdominal pain or discomfort in association with a change in bowel habit and no organic gastrointestinal disease. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative likelihood ratios, with 95% confidence intervals, were calculated for each diagnostic criteria. RESULTS: In identifying patients with IBS, sensitivities of the criteria ranged from 61.9% (Manning) to 95.8% (Rome I), and specificities from 70.6% (Rome I) to 81.8% (Manning). Positive likelihood ratios ranged from 3.19 (Rome II) to 3.39 (Manning), and negative likelihood ratios from 0.06 (Rome I) to 0.47 (Manning). The level of agreement between diagnostic criteria was greatest for Rome I and Rome II (κ = 0.95), and lowest for Manning and Rome III (κ = 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: Existing diagnostic criteria perform modestly in distinguishing IBS from organic disease. There appears to be little difference in terms of accuracy. More accurate ways of diagnosing IBS, avoiding the need for investigation, are required

The human gut colonizer Blastocystis respires using Complex II and alternative oxidase to buffer transient oxygen fluctuations in the gut

Blastocystis is the most common eukaryotic microbe in the human gut. It is linked to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but its role in disease has been contested considering its widespread nature. This organism is well adapted to its anoxic niche and lacks typical eukaryotic features such as a cytochrome-driven mitochondrial electron transport. Although generally considered a strict or obligate anaerobe, its genome encodes an alternative oxidase. Alternative oxidases are energetically wasteful enzymes as they are non-protonmotive and energy is liberated in heat, but they are considered to be involved in oxidative stress protective mechanisms. Our results demonstrate that the Blastocystis cells themselves respire oxygen via this alternative oxidase thereby casting doubt on its strict anaerobic nature. Inhibition experiments using alternative oxidase and Complex II specific inhibitors clearly demonstrate their role in cellular respiration. We postulate that the alternative oxidase in Blastocystis is used to buffer transient oxygen fluctuations in the gut and that it likely is a common colonizer of the human gut and not causally involved in IBS. Additionally the alternative oxidase could act as a protective mechanism in a dysbiotic gut and thereby explain the absence of Blastocystis in established IBS environments