Vulgar and Ascetic Christians: the Myth of a Higher Spirituality The rhetoric of monastic profession as a second baptism

It is the object of this paper to examine the roots of the rhetoric which developed almost as early as monasticism itself of monastic profession as a “second baptism.” The reader will see how Neo-Platonic thought contributed to the reinforcement of this rhetoric, and how it has been expressed down the ages in both the West and East. Further, this paper examines the challenges this rhetoric received at the hands of the Sixteenth Century Reformers. Finally, it suggests a way to move toward a deeper investigation of the ongoing challenges within the Roman Catholic Church to advance and reinforce a full appreciation of the “universal call to holiness” as taught by the Second Vatican Council and the interrelation of the order of the baptized and the monastic orders. This will lend a proper appreciation for the way the universal call is embodied in the individual lives of Christians

Characterising neovascularisation in fracture healing with laser Doppler and micro-CT scanning

Vascularity of the soft tissues around a bone fracture is critical for successful healing, particularly when the vessels in the medullary canal are ruptured. The objective of this work was to use laser Doppler and micro-computer tomography (micro-CT) scanning to characterise neovascularisation of the soft tissues surrounding the fracture during healing. Thirty-two Sprague–Dawley rats underwent mid-shaft osteotomy of the left femur, stabilised with a custom-designed external fixator. Five animals were killed at each of 2, 4 days, 1, 2, 4 and 6 weeks post-operatively. Femoral blood perfusion in the fractured and intact contralateral limbs was measured using laser Doppler scanning pre- and post-operatively and throughout the healing period. At sacrifice, the common iliac artery was cannulated and infused with silicone contrast agent. Micro-CT scans of the femur and adjacent soft tissues revealed vessel characteristics and distribution in relation to the fracture zone. Blood perfusion dropped immediately after surgery and then recovered to greater than the pre-operative level by proliferation of small vessels around the fracture zone. Multi-modal imaging allowed both longitudinal functional and detailed structural analysis of the neovascularisation process