The "de Graecorum Hodie Quorundam Opinationibus" of Leo Allatios: an interpretation of popular religion in seventeenth-century Greece

This thesis is an analysis of the De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus(1645), a letter written by the Greek Catholic Leo Allatios to his friend, the papal doctor Paulus Zacchias. It provides an assessment of his reliability as a source for popular religion in seventeenth-century Greece.The text, which was written to an Italian doctor, is placed in its western context and the influence of Catholic western trends in the fields of antiquarianism, ecumenism and medicine on his interpretation and presentation of the material is considered in order to assess the reason for his interest in these practices and the depth of his knowledge of the subject matter. Each chapter considers his interpretation of a particular popular belief and assesses the belief in its own context and that of formal Orthodoxy in order to ascertain Allatios’ understanding of it. The first section of the thesis examines Allatios’ comments on the child stealing demon, the gello. The first chapter considers how the beliefs surrounding it relate to popular and Orthodox practice. This moves on to an examination of his comments on the relationship between this creature and baptism, assessing the extent to which he takes a western perspective on the matter. The third chapter once again concentrates on the gello,this time in relation to marriage, and asks why Allatios fails to consider one of the richest areas of popular practice. The second section deals with Allatios’ comments on the vrikolakas and compares his understanding of the creature both with that presented in popular beliefs and that of the Orthodox church. The final section considers Allatios’ attitude towards medicine in the text which was written to a western doctor: chapter seven notes how unction is made to play a positive role in a text mainly concerned with the superstitions of the Greeks and the extent to which this affects Allatios’ treatment of the subject; chapter eight examines his scientific outlook and the influence of his Neoplatonism on the structure of the final section of the letter. Finally, the conclusion notes the influence of Allatios’ western viewpoint with regard to his Catholicism, ecumenism and his scientific understanding of the world and stresses the relationship which exists between popular and formal Orthodoxy

Influenza vaccination strategies for 2020-21 in the context of COVID-19

Background Influenza vaccination prevents people from influenza-related diseases and thereby mitigates the burden on national health systems when COVID-19 circulates and public health measures controlling respiratory viral infections are relaxed. However, it is challenging to maintain influenza vaccine services as the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to disrupt vaccination programmes in many countries during the 2020/21 winter. We summarise available recommendations and strategies on influenza vaccination, specifically the changes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We searched websites and databases of national and international public health agencies (focusing on Europe, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa). We also contacted key influenza immunization focal points and experts in respective countries and organizations including WHO and ECDC. Results Available global and regional guidance emphasises the control of COVID-19 infection in immunisation settings by implementing multiple measures, such as physical distancing, hand hygiene practice, appropriate use of personal protective equipment by health care workers and establishing separate vaccination sessions for medically vulnerable people. The guidance also emphasises using alternative models or settings (eg, outdoor areas and pharmacies) for vaccine delivery, communication strategies and developing registry and catch-up programmes to achieve high coverage. Several novel national strategies have been adopted, such as combining influenza vaccination with other medical visits and setting up outdoor and drive through vaccination clinics. Several Southern Hemisphere countries have increased influenza vaccine coverage substantially for the 2020 influenza season. Most of the countries included in our review have planned a universal or near universal influenza vaccination for health care workers, or have made influenza vaccination for health care workers mandatory. Australia has requested that all workers and visitors in long term care facilities receive influenza vaccine. The UK has planned to expand the influenza programme to provide free influenza vaccine for the first time to all adults 50-64 years of age, people on the shielded patient list and their household members and children in the first year of secondary school. South Africa has additionally prioritised people with hypertension for influenza vaccination. Conclusions This review of influenza vaccination guidance and strategies should support strategy development on influenza vaccination in the context of COVID-19

Social media in undergraduate medical education: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: There are over 3.81 billion worldwide active social media (SoMe) users. SoMe are ubiquitous in medical education, with roles across undergraduate programmes, including professionalism, blended learning, well being and mentoring. Previous systematic reviews took place before recent explosions in SoMe popularity and revealed a paucity of high-quality empirical studies assessing its effectiveness in medical education. This review aimed to synthesise evidence regarding SoMe interventions in undergraduate medical education, to identify features associated with positive and negative outcomes. METHODS: Authors searched 31 key terms through seven databases, in addition to references, citation and hand searching, between 16 June and 16 July 2020. Studies describing SoMe interventions and research on exposure to existing SoMe were included. Title, abstract and full paper screening were undertaken independently by two reviewers. Included papers were assessed for methodological quality using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) and/or the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) instrument. Extracted data were synthesised using narrative synthesis. RESULTS: 112 studies from 26 countries met inclusion criteria. Methodological quality of included studies had not significantly improved since 2013. Engagement and satisfaction with SoMe platforms in medical education are described. Students felt SoMe flattened hierarchies and improved communication with educators. SoMe use was associated with improvement in objective knowledge assessment scores and self-reported clinical and professional performance, however evidence for long term knowledge retention was limited. SoMe use was occasionally linked to adverse impacts upon mental and physical health. Professionalism was heavily investigated and considered important, though generally negative correlations between SoMe use and medical professionalism may exist. CONCLUSIONS: Social media is enjoyable for students who may improve short term knowledge retention and can aid communication between learners and educators. However, higher-quality study is required to identify longer-term impact upon knowledge and skills, provide clarification on professionalism standards and protect against harms

Ancient DNA analysis of Māori feather cloaks and kete : implications for conservation and culture : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biosciences at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, 2012

Feather cloaks (kakahu) and bags (kete), particularly those adorned with kiwi feathers, are treasured items or taonga to the Maori people of New Zealand. They are considered iconic expressions of Maori culture. Despite their status, much of our knowledge of the materials used to construct these artefacts, the provenance of these artefacts and the origins of these traditions, has been lost. We used ancient DNA methods to recover mitochondrial DNA sequences from 849 feather samples taken from 109 kiwi feathered cloaks (kahu kiwi) and 161 feather samples from 55 kiwi feathered kete (kete kiwi). We show that almost all (>99%) of the cloaks and all (100%) of the kete were constructed using feathers from North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli). Just one cloak was found to have been constructed using feathers from little spotted kiwi (Apteryx owenii). The remaining three species of kiwi (Apteryx haasti, Apteryx rowi and Apteryx australis) were not found in any of the cloaks and kete sampled. Molecular sexing of nuclear DNA from 92 feather cloak samples also revealed that the sex-ratio of birds deviated from a ratio of 1:1 observed in reference populations, with a male skew observed. Additionally, a reference database of 185 North Island brown kiwi mitochondrial control region DNA sequences was constructed, comprising samples collected from 26 North Island locations together with data available from the literature. For contemporary populations, we saw a phylogeographic structuring of haplotypes using both SAMOVA and Nested Clade Analysis into Eastern, Northern and West and Central populations. Utilising this structuring, it was possible to infer the provenance of 847 kiwi feathers from 108 cloaks and 153 kiwi feathers from 52 kete. A surprising proportion of cloaks (15%) and some kete (5.5%) were found to contain feathers from different geographic locations providing evidence of either kiwi trading among Maori tribes (iwi), tribal displacement, or organised hunting trips into other tribal areas. The data also suggests that the east of the North Island was the most prolific of all kiwi cloak and kete making areas, accounting for over 50% of all cloaks analysed and over 58% of all kete. This could indicate that the East of the North Island was the epicentre for this cultural tradition. Also, the structuring observed in the reference database will prove to be useful to conservationists, such as the New Zealand Department of Conservation, when deciding strategies to maintain populations of New Zealand’s most iconic bird. The genetic analysis of these treasured items has been invaluable in enriching our knowledge and rebuilding their lost histories. Additionally, genetic data from historical items can aid our understanding or how populations change overtime, thus aiding conservation of valuable species

A photo-elastic investigation of the stress distribution in vibrating cantilever blades.

The report describes a theoretical and experimental investigation of the stress distributions in vibrating cantilever blades of rectangular cross-section, pretwisted about their centroid axes. The reflecting layer photo-elastic technique was chosen for the investigation and a method is described by which stress free photo-elastic models of pretwisted cantilever blades may be constructed with inserted reflecting layers at their centroid axes. The flexural and edgeways bending stresses are calculated from observations of isochromatic fringe order at the edges of the blade. The stress distributions obtained photo-elastically are confirmed by electrical resistance strain gauge readings. Theoretical stress distributions are calculated from displaced shapes obtained by the Rayliegh Ritz method using a finite series of the characteristic functions of straight beams. There is close agreement between the theoretical and experimental stress distributions for the flexural modes, but there are some discrepancies in the distributions for the edgeways mode which was investigated, possibly due to end constraint effects

Land capability classification in local government planning

RESP-703