Scars Of War: Unexpected Turns And Revelations\u27 Enliven This Tale Of Reconstruction

Howard Bahr is already well-known to readers as the author of the acclaimed novel The Black Flower, a powerful and elegantly written book that captured the essential detail and wrenching violence of men in battle as have few other works of fiction about the Civil War or any other war. Now he ...

Immunomodulatory Effects of Transforming Growth Factor-β on T Lymphocytes

Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGFβ) is a peptide cytokine implicated in control of growth, adhesion, and differentiation of cells in numerous tissues. TGFβ has potent inhibitory effects on many lymphocyte responses; we also found that TGFβ could inhibit in vitro generation of tumor-specific CTL. Suppression was largely reversed with exogenous IL-2. Proliferation of memory-stage CTL clones was also inhibited by TGFβ, while the upregulation of cytotoxicity was not inhibited by TGFβ. These studies suggested that TGFβ limited anti-tumor CTL responses via both an indirect effect on IL-2 production, and by a direct effect on proliferation of memory CTL. In CTLL-2 cells, TGFβ inhibited IL-2-dependent DNA synthesis and cell growth as early as 24h after addition. TGFB inhibited IL-2-dependent surface IL-2Rα expression 24h after treatment, while cells remained 100% IL-2R+ up to 48h after treatment. TGFβ inhibited c-myc mRNA expression as early as 1h after treatment, suggesting that TGFβ may inhibit T cell growth by either altering signal transduction through the IL-2R, or by otherwise inhibiting early gene expression events triggered by IL-2 binding. TGFβ treatment also resulted in morphologic changes and increased adherence in 50% of CTLL-2 cells. Adherence required the presence of fetal calf serum and could be largely blocked by RGDS peptides. Under these conditions, de novo surface expression of CD8α and CD8β was observed and these cells rapidly accumulated mRNA encoding both CD8α and β chains, to a level 4-fold greater than control. Treatment of CD4-CD8- thymocytes with IL-2 + TGFβ similarly induced high levels of de novo CD8α expression on one-third of cells, while few thymocytes treated with IL-2 alone became CD8α+. CD8 expression in mature, peripheral CD8+ cells was not influenced by TGFβ. These data suggest that TGFβ has both positive and negative regulatory effects on the expression of molecules important for T lymphocyte growth, differentiation and function, and TGFβ may be a physiologically important cytokine for initial expression of CD8 in the thymus

Firing patterns of spontaneously active motor units in spinal cord-injured subjects

Involuntary motor unit activity at low rates is common in hand muscles paralysed by spinal cord injury. Our aim was to describe these patterns of motor unit behaviour in relation to motoneurone and motor unit properties. Intramuscular electromyographic activity (EMG), surface EMG and force were recorded for 30 min from thenar muscles of nine men with chronic cervical SCI. Motor units fired for sustained periods (>10 min) at regular (coefficient of variation 0.15, n = 14). Regularly firing units started and stopped firing independently suggesting that intrinsic motoneurone properties were important for recruitment and derecruitment. Recruitment (3.6 Hz, SD 1.2), maximal (10.2 Hz, SD 2.3, range: 7.5-15.4 Hz) and derecruitment frequencies were low (3.3 Hz, SD 1.6), as were firing rate increases after recruitment (similar to 20 intervals in 3s). Once active, firing often covaried, promoting the idea that units received common inputs. Half of the regularly firing units showed a very slow decline (> 40 s) in discharge before derecruitment and had interspike intervals longer than their estimated afterhyperpolarisation potential (AHP) duration (estimated by death rate and breakpoint analyses). The other units were derecruited more abruptly and had shorter estimated AHP durations. Overall, regularly firing units had longer estimated AHP durations and were weaker than irregularly firing units, suggesting they were lower threshold units. Sustained firing of units at regular rates may reflect activation of persistent inward currents, visible here in the absence of voluntary drive, whereas irregularly firing units may only respond to synaptic noise

PENERAPAN METODE PERMAINAN KARTU KATA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN MENULIS KALIMAT SEDERHANA SISWA KELAS II SEKOLAH DASAR

Penelitian ini meneliti tentang penerapan Metode Permainan Kartu Kata untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa kelas II Sekolah Dasar. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan pelaksanaan dalam penerapan Metode Permainan Kartu Kata untuk meningkatkan kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa kelas II Sekolah Dasar, dan untuk mengetahui seberapa besar peningkatan kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa dengan menerapkan Metode Permainan Kartu Kata. Penelitian ini dilatar belakangi oleh permasalahan rendahnya kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa, hal ini dibuktikan dengan hasil pretest. Hasil pretest siswa menunjukkan 72,42% siswa belum dapat menulis kalimat sederhana dengan baik dan benar, dan nilai siswa tidak mencapai nilai KKM yang ditetapkan sekolah yaitu 72, rata-rata nilai siswa pada hasil pretest yaitu 56,97. Penelitian ini menggunakan model penelitian Kemmis dan Taggart dengan langkah-langkah perencanaan, pelaksanaan, observasi, dan refleksi. Penelitian ini dilakukan dalam dua siklus. Pada siklus I nilai rata-rata kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa adalah 75,83 dengan presentase ketuntasan belajar 55,17%. Pada siklus II nilai rata-rata kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa adalah 86,9 dengan ketuntasan belajar 89,65%. Berdasarkan temuan dan pembahasan dapat disimpulkan bahwa dengan diterapkannya Metode Permainan Kartu Kata, dapat meningkatkan kemampuan menulis kalimat sederhana siswa. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, penulis merekomendasikan untuk guru, Metode Permainan Kartu dapat dijadikan sebagai metode yang diterapkan oleh guru dalam upaya meningkatkan kemampuan menulis siswa. ; This study examines the Application Of Word Game Card Methods to Improve The Ability to Write Simple Sentence at Elementary School Second Grade Students. This study aims to describe the implementation in the application of word game card methods to improve the ability of students to write simple sentences and to know how big an increase in the ability to write simple sentences students by applying the word game card methods. This research is motivated by lack of writing skills students in the simple sentence, this is evidenced by the results of the pretest. The results showed 72.42% of students have not been able to write a sentence properly, and the value of students do not reach the KKM that prevail in school of 72, the average value of students is 56.97. This study uses Kemmis and Taggart research model. With the steps of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. This research was conducted in two cycles. In first cycle, the average value of students' writing ability is 72.83 with the percentage of mastery learning is 55.17%. In the second cycle, the average value of students’ writing skills are 86.9 with mastery learning is 89.65%. Based on the findings and discussion can be concluded that with the implementation of word game card methods, can improve the ability of students to write simple sentences. Based on the results of research, researcher recommend to teachers, word game card methods can be used as the methods applied by teachers in an effort to improve students' writing skill

The Humor of the Old South

The humor of the Old South—tales, almanac entries, turf reports, historical sketches, gentlemen’s essays on outdoor sports, profiles of local characters—flourished between 1830 and 1860. The genre’s popularity and influence can be traced in the works of major southern writers such as William Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, and Harry Crews, as well as in contemporary popular culture focusing on the rural South. This collection of essays includes some of the past twenty five years’ best writing on the subject, as well as ten new works bringing fresh insights and original approaches to the subject. A number of the essays focus on well known humorists such as Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Johnson Jones Hooper, William Tappan Thompson, and George Washington Harris, all of whom have long been recognized as key figures in Southwestern humor. Other chapters examine the origins of this early humor, in particular selected poems of William Henry Timrod and Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which anticipate the subject matter, character types, structural elements, and motifs that would become part of the Southwestern tradition. Renditions of “Sleepy Hollow” were later echoed in sketches by William Tappan Thompson, Joseph Beckman Cobb, Orlando Benedict Mayer, Francis James Robinson, and William Gilmore Simms. Several essays also explore antebellum southern humor in the context of race and gender. This literary legacy left an indelible mark on the works of later writers such as Mark Twain and William Faulkner, whose works in a comic vein reflect affinities and connections to the rich lode of materials initially popularized by the Southwestern humorists. A well conceived and meticulously documented book—one that should be a valuable resource for literary scholars, popular culture specialists, and anyone interested in the American comic tradition in its varied artistic and historical contexts. —Arkansas Review Despite much scholarly attention to the colorful regional texts of the 1830s-60s, this volume is the first book-length offering on the subject since . . . 1976. —Choice Forward-looking and intelligent. Rather than accepting the genre as an effusion of the region, the essays approach the materials as literary evocations of social and civil life. —David E. E. Sloane Brings together some of the finest writings on the subject. There is a fine introductory section that focuses on the origins of Southern humor—literary and social—and an equally fine concluding part on the influence these writers had. A bibliographical appendix is a model of clarity and inclusiveness. Inge and Piacentino have done a really marvelous job. —Florida Historical Quarterly Some of the most significant essays on the humor of the Old South written in the last twenty-five years. —Jacksonville Free Press Not only is it an extensive and impressive selection of new and reprinted pieces on Old Southwestern humor, but it offers selections that fervently remind the reader just how important the humor of the Old South was in its own right. —Mississippi Quarterly A strong essay collection. . . . Clearly demonstrates that the genre of Southwestern humor can itself bear the weight of critical scrutiny, constituting important moments in narrative style and regional identity, as well as national self-consciousness. —Resources for American Literary Study The authors trace the effects of humor evident in the years 1830-1860 to the works of contemporary writers and the culture in general. —Richmond Times-Dispatch Inge and Piacentino are to be commended for editing and organizing this group of essays. Not the least of their accomplishments is the extensive amount of bibliographic material they include. —Southern Literary Journal An attractive volume with lots of good material treated in detail and with fresh perspectives. —To Withttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/1054/thumbnail.jp