Working-Class Standards of Living in Late-Victorian Urban Ontario: A Review of the Miscellaneous Evidence on the Quality of Material Life

Owing to the lack of long series of data pertaining to wages and retail prices, the analysis of standards of living in late-Victorian Ontario presents unusually difficult problems for the social historian. Following the model adopted by the participants in the earlier British standard-of-living debate, this study attempts to mitigate those difficulties, to some extent, by examining a wide range of miscellaneous sociological and economic evidence generated by government agencies, usually for other purposes. A review of the data pertaining to employment, wages, savings, consumption, the accumulation of real wealth, public health and social pathology in urban Ontario between 1875 and 1900 suggests that the 1880s was a decade of rising expectations in terms of employment, consumption, savings and the distribution of wealth following the social and economic upheaval associated with the depression of the late 1870s. However, the evidence also suggests that the marginal gains made in working-class standards of living in the 1880s were largely compromised in the 1890s as the environmental effects of industrialization and urbanization began to be experienced in full measure.En l'absence de séries complètes de statistiques sur les salaires et les prix de vente au détail, l'analyse du mode de vie à la fin du XIXe siècle en Ontario pose de sérieuses difficultés aux spécialistes de l'histoire sociale. En suivant le modèle adopté par les participants à un débat précédent sur le mode de vie en Angleterre, cette étude tente, jusqu'à un certain point, de pallier ces difficultés en examinant une vaste gamme de données socio-économiques obtenues généralement à d'autres fins, par les organismes gouvernementaux. Un examen des données sur l'emploi, les salaires, l'épargne, la consommation, l’enrichissement, la santé publique et l’état pathologique de la société urbaine en Ontario de 1875 à 1900, permet de croire que la décennie 1880 en fut une d'espoirs croissants en termes d'emploi, de consommation, d'épargne et de distribution de la richesse, suite aux bouleversements sociaux et économiques provoqués par la crise économique de la fin des années 1870. Les renseignements laissent cependant croire que l’amélioration du mode de vie de la classe ouvrière obtenue dans les années 1880 fut largement remise en question dans les années 1890, tandis que celle-ci subissait de plein fouet les conséquences environnementales de l'industrialisation et de l'urbanisation

An Aggressive Sphenoid Wing Meningioma Causing Foster Kennedy Syndrome

Foster Kennedy syndrome is a rare neurological condition with ophthalmic significance that can manifest as acute visual loss. It is classically characterised by unilateral optic nerve atrophy and contralateral papilledema resulting from an intracranial neoplasm. Physicians should consider Foster Kennedy syndrome in patients who present with visual loss and who have a history of intracranial neoplasm. In addition to ophthalmologic examination, neuroimaging is essential for the diagnosis of Foster Kennedy syndrome

Hsp90 Inhibition Suppresses NF-κB Transcriptional Activation via Sirt-2 in Human Lung Microvascular Endothelial Cells

The ability of anti-heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) drugs to attenuate NF-κB-mediated transcription is the major basis for their anti-inflammatory properties. While the molecular mechanisms underlying this effect are not clear, they appear to be distinct in human endothelial cells. We now show for the first time that type 2 sirtuin (Sirt-2) histone deacetylase binds human NF-κB target gene promoter and prevents the recruitment of NF-κB proteins and subsequent assembly of RNA polymerase II complex in human lung microvascular endothelial cells. Hsp90 inhibitors stabilize the Sirt-2/promoter interaction and impose a “transcriptional block,” which is reversed by either inhibition or downregulation of Sirt-2 protein expression. Furthermore, this process is independent of NF-κB (p65) Lysine 310 deacetylation, suggesting that it is distinct from known Sirt-2-dependent mechanisms. We demonstrate that Sirt-2 is recruited to NF-κB target gene promoter via interaction with core histones. Upon inflammatory challenge, chromatin remodeling and core histone H3 displacement from the promoter region removes Sirt-2 and allows NF-κB/coactivator recruitment essential for RNA Pol II-dependent mRNA induction. This novel mechanism may have important implications in pulmonary inflammation

The micro-damage process zone during transverse cortical bone fracture: No ears at crack growth initiation

Apply high-resolution benchtop micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to gain greater understanding and knowledge of the formation of the micro-damage process zone formed during traverse fracture of cortical bone. Bovine cortical bone was cut into single edge notch (bending) fracture testing specimens with the crack on the transverse plane and oriented to grow in the circumferential direction. We used a multi-specimen technique and deformed the specimens to various individual secant modulus loss levels (P-values) up to and including maximum load (Pmax). Next, the specimens were infiltrated with a BaSO4 precipitation stain and scanned at 3.57-μm isotropic voxel size using a benchtop high resolution-micro-CT. Measurements of the micro-damage process zone volume, width and height were made. These were compared with the simple Irwin's process zone model and with finite element models. Electron and confocal microscopy confirmed the formation of BaSO4 precipitate in micro-cracks and other porosity, and an interesting novel mechanism similar to tunneling. Measurable micro-damage was detected at low P values and the volume of the process zone increased according to a second order polynomial trend. Both width and height grew linearly up to Pmax, at which point the process zone cross-section (perpendicular to the plane of the crack) was almost circular on average with a radius of approximately 550µm (approximately one quarter of the unbroken ligament thickness) and corresponding to the shape expected for a biological composite under plane stress conditions. This study reports details of the micro-damage fracture process zone previously unreported for cortical bone. High-resolution micro-CT enables 3D visualization and measurement of the process zone and confirmation that the crack front edge and process zone are affected by microstructure. It is clear that the process zone for the specimens studied grows to be meaningfully large, confirming the need for the J-integral approach and it does not achieve steady state at Pmax in most specimens. With further development, this approach may become valuable towards better understanding the role of the process zone in cortical bone fracture and the effects of relevant modifications towards changes in fracture toughness in a cost effective way.Canadian Institutes of Health Researc