The Notorious Swepson-Littlefield Fraud: Railroad Financing in Florida (1868-1871)

A full account of the financial manipulations of George W. Swepson and Milton S. Littlefield in Florida during the hectic post-Civil War period would entail consideration of scores of events with which a great number of persons were concerned. It is possible, however, to indicate the essential elements involved in their activities through the examination of six major developments that occurred between 1868 and 1871

The Struggle for Control of the Florida Central Railroad, 1867-1882

A golden age of laissez-faire capitalism began throughout the United States within a few years after Appomattox. This was an age of economic expansion which, led by railroad developments, transformed the United States within a generation, changing this country from an essentially agricultural nation into one of the most powerful industrial nations in the world. This era of transformation is sometimes called the period of the greatest industrial revolution in the history of mankind, but it was also a time when skillful financial manipulators fleeced thousands of investors and when there was widespread corruption of many local, state and federal legislators and officials

Rehabilitation versus surgical reconstruction for non-acute anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL SNNAP): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial

BackgroundAnterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a common debilitating injury that can cause instability of the knee. We aimed to investigate the best management strategy between reconstructive surgery and non-surgical treatment for patients with a non-acute ACL injury and persistent symptoms of instability.MethodsWe did a pragmatic, multicentre, superiority, randomised controlled trial in 29 secondary care National Health Service orthopaedic units in the UK. Patients with symptomatic knee problems (instability) consistent with an ACL injury were eligible. We excluded patients with meniscal pathology with characteristics that indicate immediate surgery. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) by computer to either surgery (reconstruction) or rehabilitation (physiotherapy but with subsequent reconstruction permitted if instability persisted after treatment), stratified by site and baseline Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score—4 domain version (KOOS4). This management design represented normal practice. The primary outcome was KOOS4 at 18 months after randomisation. The principal analyses were intention-to-treat based, with KOOS4 results analysed using linear regression. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN10110685, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02980367.FindingsBetween Feb 1, 2017, and April 12, 2020, we recruited 316 patients. 156 (49%) participants were randomly assigned to the surgical reconstruction group and 160 (51%) to the rehabilitation group. Mean KOOS4 at 18 months was 73·0 (SD 18·3) in the surgical group and 64·6 (21·6) in the rehabilitation group. The adjusted mean difference was 7·9 (95% CI 2·5–13·2; p=0·0053) in favour of surgical management. 65 (41%) of 160 patients allocated to rehabilitation underwent subsequent surgery according to protocol within 18 months. 43 (28%) of 156 patients allocated to surgery did not receive their allocated treatment. We found no differences between groups in the proportion of intervention-related complications.InterpretationSurgical reconstruction as a management strategy for patients with non-acute ACL injury with persistent symptoms of instability was clinically superior and more cost-effective in comparison with rehabilitation management

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

C57BL/6J bone marrow transplant increases sociability in BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J mice

Associative studies across a range of neurodevelopmental disorders have revealed a relationship between immune system function and behavioral deficits. These correlations are particularly evident in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), a developmental disorder characterized by social behavior deficits and noted for its high instances of immune system dysfunction. Mouse models provide a unique opportunity to explore causal links between immune and nervous system function and reveal how changes in these systems alter behavioral profiles. The BTBR T(+) Itpr3(tf)/J (BTBR) mouse strain is characterized by both social behavior impairments and aberrant immune responses, affording the unique opportunity to investigate the causal relationship between behavior and immunity through direct manipulation of these systems. Using bone marrow from the highly social C57BL/6J (C57) mouse strain, BTBR mice were tested for changes in social approach behavior and repetitive grooming following irradiation and bone marrow transplant. BTBR recipient mice treated with allogeneic bone marrow from C57 donor mice, but not syngeneic BTBR bone marrow, displayed increased sociability as measured by the three-chamber social approach task and total time spent social sniffing. In addition, C57 recipient mice given allogeneic bone marrow from BTBR donors showed a significant increase in repetitive grooming behavior. These data provide evidence for a causal relationship between peripheral immune phenotype and social behavior in the BTBR mouse strain and further strengthen and expand on our existing understanding of the role of immune function in behavior