The Re-construction of Memory and Loyalty in North Carolina, 1865-1880

This thesis aims to recast the story of how white Southern identity and political culture evolved during Reconstruction. It does so by taking seriously anti-Confederate or Unionist memories of the Civil War that do not fit the later Lost Cause consensus. More particularly, it examines the public narratives told by leading spokespersons in North Carolina. By telling narratives of Union loyalty and resistance to the Confederacy, the state's political aspirants tried to reckon with their wartime past, make sense of a postwar world, and present themselves favorably in it. During Reconstruction, Southern Unionist narratives flourished in competition with pro-Confederate ways of remembering that would only triumph by the end of the 1870s. As the context of state and national politics continued to shift, local elites responded by making one or another part of their reservoir of memory more salient, ultimately shaping the evolution of white Southern identity.Master of Art

Reconstructed Rebels: Ex-Confederates in the Republican Party

After Congress took control of Reconstruction in 1866, thousands of former Confederates migrated into the Republican Party. Though nowhere near a majority of former Confederates, these “reconstructed rebels” exerted an outsized influence on Congressional Reconstruction. Few have a place in popular memory other than James Longstreet, though scholars have written about a handful of others as forgotten heroes who represented a different path for the South. In contrast to that view, this dissertation argues that their impact was largely conservative and that they were complicit in the abandonment of Reconstruction. An analysis of the roughly 4,600 former Confederates who received amnesty from Congress—that is, relief from the Fourteenth Amendment’s officeholding ban—shows that reconstructed rebels had much in common with Reconstruction’s opponents. Unlike Democratic Redeemers, however, they made a tactical decision that by joining forces with the Republicans, they could regain political power and attract northern economic investment in their states. Moreover, drawing on a long history of patron-client relationships with yeoman whites, they saw Black political participation as fully compatible with white supremacy and elite power. By joining the Republican Party, reconstructed rebels believed they could make Reconstruction more conservative and restore traditional white elites to power. While a great many southern elites supported violence as a means to overthrow Reconstruction, others preferred political cooptation. By successfully convincing white northerners that they were “reconstructed,” ex-Confederates in the Republican Party re-legitimized the image of white southern elites. The Democratic Redeemers benefited from their actions and later followed in their footsteps by combining Black political participation and white supremacy in the decades leading up to Black disfranchisement at the end of the nineteenth century. This history should remind readers in the twenty-first century about the mutability of white supremacy and the vulnerability of institutions to capture by elites. An accurate understanding of reconstructed rebels is particularly important in the current context of racial injustice, political violence, and struggle to balance national unity with justice.Doctor of Philosoph

Recommendations for effective documentation in regional anesthesia: an expert panel Delphi consensus project

Background and objectives: Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia. Methods: Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement. Results: Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29. Conclusion: By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Determining nature’s contributions to achieve the sustainable development goals

Academics and policy-makers recognize that humans and nature should be studied and managed as integrated social?eco-logical systems. Recently, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) approved the Summary for Policy-makers of the Regional and Subregional Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Americas, concluding the environment should be mainstreamed across development sectors. Beyond its mandate to generate understanding of nature and human well-being from diverse knowledge sources, IPBES is also tasked with advancing science-policy tools to aide information uptake into decisions. Based on the Americas Assessment?s 3-year, continental-scale experience, we developed three strategies to guide decisions regarding nature?s contributions to people (NCP) for achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Specifically, we prioritized contributions, recognized nature?s plural values, and grouped diverse human?nature relationships to orient attention towards important NCP?SDG linkages, expand the suite of environment?development criteria considered, and create bundles to facilitate the incorporation of complexity into decisions.Fil: Anderson, Christopher Brian. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Seixas, Cristiana S.. Universidade Estadual de Campinas; BrasilFil: Barbosa, Olga. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile. Instituto de Ecología and Biodiversidad; ChileFil: Fennessy, M. Siobhan. Kenyon College; Estados UnidosFil: Díaz José, Julio. Universidad Veracruzana; México. Tecnologico Nacional de Mexico; MéxicoFil: Bernal Herrera, F.. Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Cordillera Volcánica Central; Costa Rica. Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica; Costa Ric

Errors in Quantitative Image Analysis due to Platform-Dependent Image Scaling

PurposeTo evaluate the ability of various software (SW) tools used for quantitative image analysis to properly account for source-specific image scaling employed by magnetic resonance imaging manufacturers.MethodsA series of gadoteridol-doped distilled water solutions (0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2% volume concentrations) was prepared for manual substitution into one (of three) phantom compartments to create "variable signal," whereas the other two compartments (containing mineral oil and 0.25% gadoteriol) were held unchanged. Pseudodynamic images were acquired over multiple series using four scanners such that the histogram of pixel intensities varied enough to provoke variable image scaling from series to series. Additional diffusion-weighted images were acquired of an ice-water phantom to generate scanner-specific apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps. The resulting pseudodynamic images and ADC maps were analyzed by eight centers of the Quantitative Imaging Network using 16 different SW tools to measure compartment-specific region-of-interest intensity.ResultsImages generated by one of the scanners appeared to have additional intensity scaling that was not accounted for by the majority of tested quantitative image analysis SW tools. Incorrect image scaling leads to intensity measurement bias near 100%, compared to nonscaled images.ConclusionCorrective actions for image scaling are suggested for manufacturers and quantitative imaging community

Schizophrenia risk conferred by rare protein-truncating variants is conserved across diverse human populations

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic mental illness and among the most debilitating conditions encountered in medical practice. A recent landmark SCZ study of the protein-coding regions of the genome identified a causal role for ten genes and a concentration of rare variant signals in evolutionarily constrained genes1. This recent study—and most other large-scale human genetics studies—was mainly composed of individuals of European (EUR) ancestry, and the generalizability of the findings in non-EUR populations remains unclear. To address this gap, we designed a custom sequencing panel of 161 genes selected based on the current knowledge of SCZ genetics and sequenced a new cohort of 11,580 SCZ cases and 10,555 controls of diverse ancestries. Replicating earlier work, we found that cases carried a significantly higher burden of rare protein-truncating variants (PTVs) among evolutionarily constrained genes (odds ratio = 1.48; P = 5.4 × 10−6). In meta-analyses with existing datasets totaling up to 35,828 cases and 107,877 controls, this excess burden was largely consistent across five ancestral populations. Two genes (SRRM2 and AKAP11) were newly implicated as SCZ risk genes, and one gene (PCLO) was identified as shared by individuals with SCZ and those with autism. Overall, our results lend robust support to the rare allelic spectrum of the genetic architecture of SCZ being conserved across diverse human populations

Practical Guide to Measuring Wetland Carbon Pools and Fluxes

Wetlands cover a small portion of the world, but have disproportionate influence on global carbon (C) sequestration, carbon dioxide and methane emissions, and aquatic C fluxes. However, the underlying biogeochemical processes that affect wetland C pools and fluxes are complex and dynamic, making measurements of wetland C challenging. Over decades of research, many observational, experimental, and analytical approaches have been developed to understand and quantify pools and fluxes of wetland C. Sampling approaches range in their representation of wetland C from short to long timeframes and local to landscape spatial scales. This review summarizes common and cutting-edge methodological approaches for quantifying wetland C pools and fluxes. We first define each of the major C pools and fluxes and provide rationale for their importance to wetland C dynamics. For each approach, we clarify what component of wetland C is measured and its spatial and temporal representativeness and constraints. We describe practical considerations for each approach, such as where and when an approach is typically used, who can conduct the measurements (expertise, training requirements), and how approaches are conducted, including considerations on equipment complexity and costs. Finally, we review key covariates and ancillary measurements that enhance the interpretation of findings and facilitate model development. The protocols that we describe to measure soil, water, vegetation, and gases are also relevant for related disciplines such as ecology. Improved quality and consistency of data collection and reporting across studies will help reduce global uncertainties and develop management strategies to use wetlands as nature-based climate solutions

Molecular states during acute COVID-19 reveal distinct etiologies of long-term sequelae.

Post-acute sequelae of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are debilitating, clinically heterogeneous and of unknown molecular etiology. A transcriptome-wide investigation was performed in 165 acutely infected hospitalized individuals who were followed clinically into the post-acute period. Distinct gene expression signatures of post-acute sequelae were already present in whole blood during acute infection, with innate and adaptive immune cells implicated in different symptoms. Two clusters of sequelae exhibited divergent plasma-cell-associated gene expression patterns. In one cluster, sequelae associated with higher expression of immunoglobulin-related genes in an anti-spike antibody titer-dependent manner. In the other, sequelae associated independently of these titers with lower expression of immunoglobulin-related genes, indicating lower non-specific antibody production in individuals with these sequelae. This relationship between lower total immunoglobulins and sequelae was validated in an external cohort. Altogether, multiple etiologies of post-acute sequelae were already detectable during SARS-CoV-2 infection, directly linking these sequelae with the acute host response to the virus and providing early insights into their development