We should see certain things yet, let us hope and believe : Technology, Sex, and Politics in Mark Twain\u27s \u3cem\u3eConnecticut Yankee\u3c/em\u3e

Through his modern Yankee, Mark Twain reveals to his readers the underlying desire to overcome the very material world he seems to want to instantiate. Although the Yankee seems a modern man who simply wants to create the conditions in Arthurian England by which his body will be most comfortable, both his zeal for this project and the trajectory of his soul\u27s course during the book betray an underlying hope to overcome his mortal coil through first technological and then political projects. In charting the impetus and evolution of the Yankee\u27s psychology for us, Twain teaches us much about the nature of the modern project --its underlying hopes and its potential for dangerous, even totalitarian, excesses. As appealing as the starkly contrasting Arthurians might be, given this insight, Twain does not ultimately endorse this position but shows that its explicit claim does not ultimately satisfy our desire for noninstrumental goods

Complete intersections and mod p cochains

We give homotopy invariant definitions corresponding to three well known properties of complete intersections, for the ring, the module theory and the endomorphisms of the residue field, and we investigate them for the mod p cochains on a space, showing that suitable versions of the second and third are equivalent and that the first is stronger. We are particularly interested in classifying spaces of groups, and we give a number of examples. This paper follows on from arXiv:0906.4025 which considered the classical case of a commutative ring and arXiv:0906.3247 which considered the case of rational homotopy theory.Comment: To appear in AG

Mifamurtide for the treatment of nonmetastatic osteosarcoma

International audienceINTRODUCTION: The standard treatment for osteosarcoma requires both macroscopic surgical wide resection and postoperative multi-drug chemotherapy in neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings. However, the 5-year event-free survival has remained at a plateau of 60-70% of patients with nonmetastatic osteosarcoma for more than 30 years. AREAS COVERED: Mifamurtide (liposomal muramyl tripeptide phosphatidylethanolamine; L-MTP-PE) is a new agent. L-MTP-PE is a nonspecific immunomodulator, which is a synthetic analog of a component of bacterial cell walls. L-MTP-PE activates macrophages and monocytes as a potent activator of immune response in addition to standard chemotherapy. It also improves the overall survival from 70 to 78% and results in a one-third reduction in the risk of death from osteosarcoma. This review summarizes the most recent findings about L-MTP-PE and its therapeutic application for nonmetastatic osteosarcoma. EXPERT OPINION: Recently, L-MTP-PE has been approved in Europe for the treatment of nonmetastatic osteosarcoma with chemotherapy. L-MTP-PE in combination with traditional treatment is expected to go mainstream and to be beneficial for patients with osteosarcoma. Information about potential benefit regarding mifamurtide use in the neoadjuvant setting (i.e., before surgery) and/or usefulness of L-MTP-PE in metastatic in relapsed and metastatic osteosarcoma requires analysis of expanded access and/or future clinical trials of L-MTP-PE in high-burden and low-burden situations

Pneumoconiosis from Agricultural Dust Exposure among Young California Farmworkers

BackgroundAgricultural workers are exposed to airborne pollutants, including organic and inorganic (mineral) dusts.ObjectivesLung autopsy specimens from consecutive coroner's cases of Hispanic males in Fresno County, California, (n = 112) were obtained to determine whether mineral dust exposure in agricultural work leads to pneumoconiosis.MethodsThe left lung was fixed by inflation. We evaluated airway and parenchymal pathology using standardized diagnostic criteria and semiquantitative grading schemata, including the grading of small airways for fibrosis and birefringent mineral dust particles. We analyzed lung dust burden on a subset of 37 lungs following bleach digestion, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray spectrometry (XRS) and image analysis, and by X-ray diffraction for crystalline silica (CSi). Farmworkers comprised 51.5% and nonfarmworkers 48.5% of the samples.ResultsProximal airways demonstrated little mineral dust accumulation, but membranous and respiratory bronchioles had wall thickening, remodeling, and inflammation associated with carbonaceous and mineral dust deposition. These changes were independently associated with agricultural work, cigarette smoking, and increased age. Mineral dust small airways disease, pneumoconiosis (macules and nodules), and pathologic changes consistent with chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and interstitial fibrosis predominated in farmworkers compared with nonfarmworkers. CSi, determined gravimetrically, and aluminum silicate particles, determined by SEM/XRS, were increased in the lungs of farmworkers compared with nonfarmworkers and were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with small airway disease and pneumoconiosis.ConclusionMineral dust exposure is associated with increased small airway disease and pneumoconiosis among California farmworkers; however, the clinical significance and natural history of these changes remains to be determined

Strong, Light, Multifunctional Fibers of Carbon Nanotubes with Ultrahigh Conductivity

Broader applications of carbon nanotubes to real-world problems have largely gone unfulfilled because of difficult material synthesis and laborious processing. We report high-performance multifunctional carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers that combine the specific strength, stiffness, and thermal conductivity of carbon fibers with the specific electrical conductivity of metals. These fibers consist of bulk-grown CNTs and are produced by high-throughput wet spinning, the same process used to produce high-performance industrial fibers. These scalable CNT fibers are positioned for high-value applications, such as aerospace electronics and field emission, and can evolve into engineered materials with broad long-term impact, from consumer electronics to long-range power transmission