A structural investigation of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield with special reference to the idea of the true and false self

A survey of the available literature on Katherine Mansfield has shown that, in the five decades which have elapsed since the author's death, critical interest has gradually, but significantly, altered its direction. Despite the workmanlike assessments of such critics as David Daiches in Britain and Andre Maurois in France, and the recognition of her mastery of the short story form by such fellow practitioners of the art as H.E. Bates and Elizabeth Bowen, the mainstream of criticism tended, in the first decades after the author's death, to centre less upon the characteristics of the work itself than upon a cult- like fascination, initiated, perhaps, by the perceptive but over-interested pen of Middleton Murry. Only more recently has this tendency been superseded by a more rigorous scrutiny of the stories themselves; thus the excellence of the author 's technique has now become a major concern. Recent recognition has been accorded, too, to the fact that the stories were in the vanguard of their time with regard to the choice of, as well as the treatment of, theme. Intro. p. 1-2

Risky behaviour and psychosocial correlates in adolescents – is there a link with tuberculosis?

Objective: Reasons for the increase in incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in late adolescence are poorly understood. One hypothesis is that psychological and behavioural variables associated with adolescence may increase risk of developing TB. The study aimed to determine whether psychosocial and behavioural variables affect incidence of TB disease in adolescents. Methods: A casecontrol study design was used in adolescents who were participants in a TB epidemiological study. Cases were adolescents diagnosed with TB disease. Approximately half of the controls had no TB disease but a positive TST indicative of latent TB. Half had neither TB disease nor latent TB. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by participants. The questionnaire consisted of a combination of standardised psychosocial instruments. Results: Of 292 participants, 62 were cases, 112 had latent TB and 118 neither TB disease nor latent TB. There were no significant differences in instrument scores between cases and controls. There was a trend for certain adverse life events to be more common in the TB-disease group. Conclusion: In adolescents, a trend for association between TB incidence and psychosocial and behavioural variables was not statistically significant. Given the trend, research with larger samples, and more comprehensive assessment of the relationship between stressors and TB, is warranted.Keywords: Tuberculosis; Adolescents; Self-injurious behaviour; Psychosocial factor

Risky behaviour and psychosocial correlates in adolescents - is there a link with tuberculosis?

Reasons for the increase in incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) in late adolescence are poorly understood. One hypothesis is that psychological and behavioural variables associated with adolescence may increase risk of developing TB. The study aimed to determine whether psychosocial and behavioural variables affect incidence of TB disease in adolescents. Methods: A case control study design was used in adolescents who were participants in a TB epidemiological study. Cases were adolescents diagnosed with TB disease. Approximately half of the controls had no TB disease but a positive TST indicative of latent TB. Half had neither TB disease nor latent TB. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by participants. The questionnaire consisted of a combination of standardised psychosocial instruments. Results: Of 292 participants, 62 were cases, 112 had latent TB and 118 neither TB disease nor latent TB. There were no significant differences in instrument scores between cases and controls. There was a trend for certain adverse life events to be more common in the TB-disease group. Conclusion: In adolescents, a trend for association between TB incidence and psychosocial and behavioural variables was not statistically significant. Given the trend, research with larger samples, and more comprehensive assessment of the relationship between stressors and TB, is warranted

Access to chloroquine in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases attending rheumatology outpatient clinics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Herbal medicines made from the bark of the Cinchona tree, and later quinine, have been widely used for centuries to treat medical conditions such as tropical malaria. More recently, chloroquine (CQ) and its synthetic derivatives have been used as antimalarials and to treat systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and in the past 14 months or so, COVID-19 pneumonia. Anecdotal evidence and the erratic covering through social media of its potential efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia have resulted in the widespread off-label use of CQ in South Africa and worldwide. This study aimed to show that access to CQ as a chronic medication for rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases was limited during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this resulted in an increased incidence of flares in these patients, affecting their morbidity and potentially leading to mortality

Multidimensional analyses reveal modulation of adaptive and innate immune subsets by tuberculosis vaccines

We characterize the breadth, function and phenotype of innate and adaptive cellular responses in a prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection trial. Responses are measured by whole blood intracellular cytokine staining at baseline and 70 days after vaccination with H4:IC31 (subunit vaccine containing Ag85B and TB10.4), Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG, a live attenuated vaccine) or placebo (n = ~30 per group). H4:IC31 vaccination induces Ag85B and TB10.4-specific CD4 T cells, and an unexpected NKTlike subset, that expresses IFN-γ, TNF and/or IL-2. BCG revaccination increases frequencies of CD4 T cell subsets that either express Th1 cytokines or IL-22, and modestly increases IFNγ-producing NK cells. In vitro BCG re-stimulation also triggers responses by donor-unrestricted T cells, which may contribute to host responses against mycobacteria. BCG, which demonstrated efficacy against sustained Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, modulates multiple immune cell subsets, in particular conventional Th1 and Th22 cells, which should be investigated in discovery studies of correlates of protection

Verified Efficient Implementation of Gabow’s Strongly Connected Component Algorithm

Abstract. We present an Isabelle/HOL formalization of Gabow’s al-gorithm for finding the strongly connected components of a directed graph. Using data refinement techniques, we extract efficient code that performs comparable to a reference implementation in Java. Our style of formalization allows for reusing large parts of the proofs when defining variants of the algorithm. We demonstrate this by verifying an algorithm for the emptiness check of generalized Büchi automata, reusing most of the existing proofs.

Maternal high fat diet compromises survival and modulates lung development of offspring, and impairs lung function of dams (female mice)

© 2019 The Author(s). Published in Respiratory Research. Background: Epidemiological studies have identified strong relationships between maternal obesity and offspring respiratory dysfunction; however, the causal direction is not known. We tested whether maternal obesity alters respiratory function of offspring in early life. Methods: Female C57Bl/6 J mice were fed a high or low fat diet prior to and during two rounds of mating and resulting pregnancies with offspring lung function assessed at 2 weeks of age. The lung function of dams was measured at 33 weeks of age. Results: A high fat diet caused significant weight gain prior to conception with dams exhibiting elevated fasting glucose, and glucose intolerance. The number of surviving litters was significantly less for dams fed a high fat diet, and surviving offspring weighed more, were longer and had larger lung volumes than those born to dams fed a low fat diet. The larger lung volumes significantly correlated in a linear fashion with body length. Pups born from the second pregnancy had reduced tissue elastance compared to pups born from the first pregnancy, regardless of the dam's diet. As there was reduced offspring survival born to dams fed a high fat diet, the statistical power of lung function measures of offspring was limited. There were signs of increased inflammation in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of dams (but not offspring) fed a high fat diet, with more tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin(IL)-5, IL-33 and leptin detected. Dams that were fed a high fat diet and became pregnant twice had reduced fasting glucose immediately prior to the second mating, and lower levels of IL-33 and leptin in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Conclusions: While maternal high fat diet compromised litter survival, it also promoted somatic and lung growth (increased lung volume) in the offspring. Further studies are required to examine downstream effects of this enhanced lung volume on respiratory function in disease settings

Non-orographic gravity waves and turbulence caused by merging jet streams

Jet streams are important sources of non-orographic internal gravity waves and clear air turbulence (CAT). We analyze non-orographic gravity waves and CAT during a merger of the polar front jet stream (PFJ) with the subtropical jet stream (STJ) above the southern Atlantic. Thereby, we use a novel combination of airborne observations covering the meso-scale and turbulent scale in combination with high-resolution deterministic short-term forecasts. Coherent phase lines of temperature perturbations by gravity waves stretching along a highly sheared tropopause fold are simulated by the ECMWF IFS (integrated forecast system) forecasts. During the merging event, the PFJ reverses its direction from approximately antiparallel to parallel with respect to the STJ, going along with strong wind shear and horizontal deformation. Temperature perturbations in limb-imaging and lidar observations onboard the research aircraft HALO during the SouthTRAC campaign show remarkable agreement with the IFS data. Ten hours earlier, the IFS data show an “X-shaped” pattern in the temperature perturbations emanating from the sheared tropopause fold. Tendencies of the IFS wind components show that these gravity waves are excited by spontaneous emission adjusting the strongly divergent flow when the PFJ impinges the STJ. In situ observations of temperature and wind components at 100 Hz confirm upward propagation of the probed portion of the gravity waves. They furthermore reveal embedded episodes of light-to-moderate CAT, Kelvin Helmholtz waves, and indications for partial wave reflection. Patches of low Richardson numbers in the IFS data coincide with the CAT observations, suggesting that this event was accessible to turbulence forecasting

Skin Cancer:Epidemiology, Disease Burden, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Therapeutic Approaches

Skin cancer, including both melanoma and non-melanoma, is the most common type of malignancy in the Caucasian population. Firstly, we review the evidence for the observed increase in the incidence of skin cancer over recent decades, and investigate whether this is a true increase or an artefact of greater screening and over-diagnosis. Prevention strategies are also discussed. Secondly, we discuss the complexities and challenges encountered when diagnosing and developing treatment strategies for skin cancer. Key case studies are presented that highlight the practic challenges of choosing the most appropriate treatment for patients with skin cancer. Thirdly, we consider the potential risks and benefits of increased sun exposure. However, this is discussed in terms of the possibility that the avoidance of sun exposure in order to reduce the risk of skin cancer may be less important than the reduction in all-cause mortality as a result of the potential benefits of increased exposure to the sun. Finally, we consider common questions on human papillomavirus infection