The presence of the risen Jesus in and among his followers with special reference to the first farewell discourse in John 13:31-14:31

The author of the Fourth Gospel delivers the true divine identity and significance of Jesus throughout the entire narrative. He aims at guiding his readers through the narrative of the Gospel with the purpose that they will “see” (meet) Jesus, confess him as Christ, and receive eternal life. John actually planned that the text of the Gospel should actively change people. Furthermore, the Gospel of John has wide spectrum of the reader. This means that John opens his message to the all the generations who are no longer in a position to see Jesus physically. Nobody reading this text should or could stay the same, since he or she will be confronted with the protagonist of the text, namely Jesus. By accepting this message, that person will receive life; by rejecting the message, a person will perish. This truth is rehearsed over and again in the narrative for every reader to see. The text of the Gospel thus becomes the “presence of Jesus” among the readers. This functional purpose of the Gospel accounts for the first farewell discourse in John 13:31-14:31. In response to previous scholarship that understands the Johannine farewell discourses solely as a testament, the present study convinces that the discourses interface with classical literature, specifically the following literary styles: Greek tragedy, consolation literature, and the literary symposium tradition. The multiplicity of the generic associations of the discourses sheds new light on the nature of Jesus’ departure as well as his continuing presence in spite of that departure. No longer designed to evoke only the themes of departure and absence, the testament of Jesus in John emphasises instead Jesus’ abiding presence. While the material from Greek tragedy will only further emphasise the theme of departure, the material from classical consolation literature and the literary symposium tradition will accentuate the theme of continuing presence. John has thereby transcended the usual expectations of the testament. Thus the physically absent Jesus becomes present through his first farewell discourse: the reader is confronted with a dynamic portrait of Jesus and this confrontation results in an acceptance of Jesus as Christ, as well as the receiving of eternal life. According to the first farewell discourse, eschatological promise, knowing and seeing the Father, glory, love, pastoral ministry, deeds, prayer, Paraclete, remembering, faith, peace and joy, and the words of Jesus all serve as the replacement of the physical Jesus. Therefore, the first farewell discourse does not indicate the separation of Jesus from his disciples but rather the permanent presence of the risen Jesus in and among them. This is their basis for perseverance, in other words, the foundation of their spreading the gospel messages to non-believers, even though they were in a difficult place. the gospel of John, John 13:31-14-31, the purpose of John’s gospel, the presence of Jesus, the recipient of the Fourth Gospel, the farewell discourse(s), Biblical hermeneutics, glory, eschatological promise, the Paraclete, mutual love, peace and joyThesis (PhD (New Testament Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007.New Testament Studiesunrestricte

The identity of the recipients of the Fourth Gospel in the light of the purpose of the Gospel

The purpose of this article is to explore the identity of the recipients at the time of the completion of the Gospel. An effort is made to determine to whom John wrote this Gospel and how he adapted his theological message to reach this aim. It will be argued that John did not only focus on a specific group of people, but had a wide variety of people (i.e., Jews, Hellenists, Samaritans) in mind, which leads to the conclusion that the Fourth Gospel was written with both evangelistic and didactic aims

ALTERATIONS IN JOINT KINEMATICS AND KINETICS DURING DOWNHILL RUNNING

The purpose of this investigation was to find how joint kinematics and kinetics during downhill running change compared to level running. Fifteen recreational runners ran on a force plate imbedded treadmill with three different slopes (0 º, -6º, and -9º) at a controlled speed of 3.2 m/s. Ten steps on each slope were selected for analysis. Increased knee flexion with decreased ankle plantar-flexion and hip flexion was found during downhill running compared to level running. Decreased peak propulsive ground reaction force and posterior impulse were found during downhill running compared to level running. Additionally, increased extension moment with increased negative joint power at the knee and decreased plantar-flexion moment with decreased negative joint power at the ankle were found during downhill running compared to level running

Impact of Left Atrial Appendage Morphology on Recurrence in Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source and Atrial Cardiopathy

Background: The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a major source of thrombus and non-chicken wing (CW). LAA morphology is a risk factor for embolic events in atrial fibrillation. However, the association of non-CW morphology with embolic stroke recurrence is unknown in patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) and atrial cardiopathy.Methods: We conducted retrospective analyses using a prospective institutional stroke registry (2013–2017). Patients with ESUS and atrial cardiopathy were enrolled. Atrial cardiopathy was diagnosed if an increased left atrial diameter (>40 mm, men; >38 mm, women), supraventricular tachycardia, or LAA filling defect on computed tomography (CT) were present. Patients admitted >24 h after onset were excluded. LAA morphology was evaluated using CT and categorized into CW vs. non-CW types. The primary outcome was embolic stroke recurrence. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the independent association between LAA morphology and outcome.Results: Of 157 patients, 81 (51.6%) had CW LAA morphology. The median follow-up was 41.5 (interquartile range 12.3–58.5) months corresponding to 509.8 patient years. In total, 18 participants experienced embolic stroke recurrences (3.80 per 100 patient-years). Non-CW morphology was more associated with embolic stroke recurrence than CW morphology (hazard ratio (HR), 3.17; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13–8.91; p = 0.029). After adjusting for CHA2DS2-VASc score and number of potential embolic sources, non-CW morphology showed an independent association with outcome (adjusted HR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.02–8.23; p = 0.045).Conclusions: The LAA morphology types may help identify high risk of embolic stroke recurrence in ESUS with atrial cardiopathy. LAA morphology in atrial cardiopathy may provide clues for developing therapies tailored to specific mechanisms

Subacute Neurological Deterioration with Selective Axonal Injury in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke following Reperfusion of Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion

To date, the long-term effects of reperfusion on the salvaged brain tissues have not been addressed in the literature. We report 4 cases presenting subacute neurological deteriorations with selective axonal injury following reperfusion therapies for acute ischemic stroke. Our case series based on 4 patients showed common features distinct from those of early reperfusion injury in that (1) the neurological symptoms developed after 1-2 months of reperfusion therapies, (2) these symptoms were accompanied by the subcortical white matter changes on brain MRI, and (3) these findings were mostly reversible with time. This suggests that axons in the reperfused brain may be vulnerable to further neurological injury

Harvesting electrical energy using plasmon-enhanced light pressure in a platinum cut cone

We have designed a method of harvesting electrical energy using plasmon-enhanced light pressure. A device was fabricated as a cut cone structure that optimizes light collection so that the weak incident light pressure can be sufficiently enhanced inside the cut cone to generate electrical energy. An increase in the device's current output is a strong indication that the pressure of incident light has been enhanced by the surface plasmons on a platinum layer inside the cut cone. The electrical energy harvested in a few minutes by irradiating pulsed laser light on a single micro device was possible to illuminate a blue LED

Effects of Berberine and Hwangryunhaedok-Tang on Oral Bioavailability and Pharmacokinetics of Ciprofloxacin in Rats

Hwangryunhaedok-Tang (HR) and berberine-containing single herbs are used to treat bacterial infection and inflammatory diseases in eastern Asia. The combination of berberine-containing herbal medicines and ciprofloxacin can be an excellent antibacterial chemotherapy against multidrug resistance bacteria. To evaluate the pretreatment effect of berberine and HR, vehicle, berberine (25 and 50 mg/kg/day), and HR (1.4 g/kg/day) were daily administered to rats for five consecutive days. On day 6, ciprofloxacin was administered (10 mg/kg, i.v. and 20 mg/kg, p.o.) to rats. To assess cotreatment effect of berberine and ciprofloxacin, berberine (50 mg/kg) and ciprofloxacin (20 mg/kg) were coadministered by single oral gavage. Pharmacokinetic data were estimated by noncompartmental model. Compared with ciprofloxacin alone (control group), coadministration of berberine (50 mg/kg) and ciprofloxacin significantly decreased Cmax of ciprofloxacin (P<0.05). In addition, the pretreatment of berberine (50 mg/kg/day) and HR (1.4 g/kg/day) significantly decreased Cmax and AUC0→∞, compared with control group (P<0.05). The oral bioavailability of ciprofloxacin was reduced by cotreatment of berberine and pretreatment of berberine and HR. Our results suggest that the expression of P-glycoprotein and organic anion and/or organic cation transporters (OAT/OCT) could take a role in reduced oral bioavailability of ciprofloxacin by berberine and HR

SPRINTING CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN’S 100 METER FINALS AT THE IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHOPS DAEGU 2011

This study analyzed the sprinting characteristics of the finalists during the women's 100 m event in the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 in order to provide important information to track and field coaches and athletes. Five high speed cameras (Casio, Japan) with a sampling frequency of 300 Hz were used to calculate the number of steps, step length, and stride frequency of the eight sprinters in the women’s final event. There was a tendency to show a better performance time with a high number of steps (p=0.13) and shorter stride length (p=0.14) among the eight sprinters. Furthermore, stride frequency and performance time were negatively correlated as a higher stride frequency had a positive impact on performance time (p=0.02). Based on the relationship between COM velocity and lower extremity joint angles, the 4 top ranked sprinters showed the different strategies to maintain a high COM velocity during the mid portion of the race